Because the Night
by Li the Twilight Knight
Summary: AU silliness. Foreign-exchange student Light Yagami just needed a place to stay over summer break. But he'll find more than he bargained for at Wammy's House...
1. Prologue

Prologue

**Welcome, Light!**

**3 Unread Messages**

(click)

_Dear Light,_

_We hope you're enjoying college! When you decided to join the foreign exchange program, we were a little surprised that you chose England as your destination. But you were always the best with English in your school. We hope that the environment agrees with you, and that you're doing your best with your studies._

_While we would very much like to see you, we regret to tell you that you cannot come home for summer break. We have rented out your room to a travelling performer named Aki, and she will be staying here six months before the circus comes back to get her. Your room is fine; there are just a lot of twisty balloons everywhere._

_You can come home next summer for sure! Sayu sends her love, and of course we adore you. We miss you, and we're sure you'll make us proud._

_Love,_

_Mom and Dad_

(click)

_Light Yagami,_

_As a resident of dorm four on our college campus, we feel that it is our duty to tell you that you are unable to remain in the dorm for the duration of summer break. Several students have caused a minor problem that has resulted in the dorm simultaneously flooding on the lower floor and filling with popcorn on the upper floors. It will take weeks to clear the building of this incident, and several more to get rid of the mildew and popcorn smells. We look forward to seeing you again in the fall, and hope that you have a good summer._

(click)

_HELP STOP THE INVASION OF THE SUPERNATURAL INTO OUR WORLD! CLICK HERE TO SEE REAL VIDEOS OF ALIENS, VAMPIRES, AND ZOMBIES!!!_

(click, select, delete)

"………Dammit. Where am I going to stay now?"

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SO! Hi, everyone! As promised, new stories for you! This one is one of two that I'm working on at the same time, something silly to offset the seriousness of the other. It's supposed to be ridiculous, so enjoy!

Li


	2. Wammy's House

Arc One: The Mystery of Wammy's

Chapter 1: Wammy's House

"Are you sure this is all right?" Light Yagami asked warily, looking around the large, spacious entrance hall. When his friend from college had suggested that he go talk to the man who ran the blood drives for the hospital, he had been baffled. When Mr. Always, the blood bank guy, directed him to a 'Mr. Wammy', he was starting to get weirded out. Mr. Wammy lived in a huge house just outside of Winchester, the English town where most of Light's college life took place. Apparently he helped people who needed a place to stay, letting them stay for free. And for a broke college student, that was definitely a plus. Light barely had the money for a plane ticket home, and since going home was out of the question at the moment, he wanted to save every bit of it that he could.

"Of course it's all right. I have people coming and going all the time." Mr. Wammy seemed like a nice enough old guy, after all. Light set down the bag he was carrying, watching the man flip through a book on a nearby end table. "Let's see… no, Jaden is in that room… Hmm…" There was quiet for several moments, as he flipped through the book, and then Mr. Wammy said, "Ah, yes… The room next to L's is open… You're welcome to stay there."

"Who?" Light asked. Who had a single letter for a name? What kind of people lived in this place?

"L is one of the people who stay here." Mr. Wammy said. "He's about your age, if I'm estimating correctly."

"What about me?" a quiet voice asked. Light turned, as the oddest person he had ever seen walked around the corner. A disheveled boy in a three-quarter-sleeve white shirt and loose, faded jeans stared back at Light appraisingly. A wild fluff of black hair made pale skin seem even lighter, and his eyes shone impossibly black like obsidian.

"This is Light Yagami, L." Mr. Wammy explained as the boys stared at each other. "He needed a place to stay."

L's eyes never left Light, watching him carefully. Eventually, his eyes widened with shock. "He'll be _living_ here? With us?" Light personally thought that the reaction was very overdone. The look on L's face seemed almost horrified.

Mr. Wammy frowned slightly. "L, you know my policy." he admonished gently. "Light will be taking the empty room next to yours. Would you show him where it is please?"

"But Watari…! That room…!" L tried, a last-ditch effort to have his voice heard. Mr. Wammy shook his head.

"March, L." he commanded, before turning and heading for a different room, where there seemed to be a lot of yelling. L stared daggers at Light for a moment, before sighing.

"Well, come on." The raven-haired boy walked with a slouch, his hands in his pockets. He was also barefoot. Light couldn't help but wonder if he was some kind of hobo as he followed the other up the stairs.

xXx

After three different flights of stairs going up, Light finally got the nerve to ask L a question.

"Why did you call him 'Watari?'" he asked hesitantly.

L didn't look at him, but answered tersely, "That is what we call him here, those of us who have been with him the longest."

"How long have you been here?" Light asked. Maybe L was an orphan or something.

L stopped, turning and staring at him. "That's really none of your business. I don't like you, and I don't like you in my home. Watari's word is law, or I might have kicked you down some stairs by now. But I'm not answering personal questions for you." He reached past Light, pushing open the door they'd stopped in front of, the last one on the hall. "This is your room. Now leave me alone."

Light looked into the empty room. It was furnished nicely. He turned back to thank L, but the other boy was gone, no trace left.

"What the hell?" Light muttered to himself. "How did he do that?" He sighed, walking his bags into the room to begin unpacking.

xXx

An hour or two later, he drifted back downstairs to explore. He found L sitting alone in a gigantic dining room, a bowl of soup sitting in front of him. Light hesitated, but walked over anyway. "Hi, L. What's for dinner?"

L looked up, and his eyes flashed. "Tomato soup."

Light sighed, wondering if he should even bother to ask where he could get some, when Mr. Wammy appeared with another bowl, and some crackers to go with it. Light thanked him, and he smiled, glancing at L before heading back into what Light guessed was the kitchen. Light took a bite, dipping a cracker thoughtfully as he watched L. L had no crackers, and there was nothing to suggest that he'd eaten them all already. He swallowed the last of his soup, standing up and picking up the empty bowl.

"All you're going to have is a bowl of soup? Won't you get hungry?" Light asked. L turned to look at him, a wicked smile appearing on his face for the briefest instant.

"We eat a lot of tomato soup in this house." he said cryptically. "Get used to it." He had vanished into the kitchen by the time Light realized that L hadn't answered the question he'd asked. Light ate his soup sullenly, as L drifted back through the dining room to go somewhere else. He stopped suddenly, and Light glanced up to see what the disturbance was.

There was a child who had flung himself into L's arms. Light looked from the boy to the door, blinking in confusion. He hadn't heard anyone coming, and hadn't really seen anyone. He had simply looked up, and there the boy was. His hair was blindingly white, and he was dressed all in white. His eyes were black, like L's, but different.

"L!" the boy said happily. "Will you come do a puzzle with me? You know how to do the giant one!" He looked over at where Light sat, and asked, "Who is that?"

"That's Light, Near. He'll be _living_ with us for a while." Again the odd emphasis on the word 'living'. Near nodded, his face lighting up with understanding. L smiled. "I would be happy to help with your puzzle, Near. Let's go get it out." He walked out, carrying Near, and Light blinked. So apparently L did have the capacity to be nice to people. Maybe it was just Light in particular that he didn't like. He rolled his eyes, looking down at his soup bowl irritably. He spooned up the last bit and drank it, sighing before looking back up.

He recoiled almost immediately. There was a girl standing there now, looking about his age. He glanced at the closed door, and demanded, "How do you people get around without making any noise?! Is this some kind of spy school or something?"

"We're very quiet people." the girl said softly. "My name is Aisha. It's nice to meet you. L said you were here."

"I'm Light." Light replied. "Light Yagami."

"I know. L told me. He said that Watari is letting you live here for a few weeks or so." She said it calmly, no emphasis, unlike L. "Don't let him put you off. You're welcomed here."

"He could have fooled me." Light grumbled. "Honestly, if I had known what that blood bank guy was getting me into… I might have just gone home and lived with circus freaks in my house."

"Mr. Always directed you to Watari?" Aisha asked, smiling.

Light looked up. "Yeah. Do you know him?"

"He's my father." Aisha said. "My brother After and I live here, but our father works in town."

"Oh." Light said. The girl reminded him strangely of L, in a vague sort of way. Even if they looked nothing alike and behaved nothing alike. Aisha was polite, with pretty copper colored hair and hazel eyes, whereas L looked like some kind of horror movie reject. Yet there was something, an air around both of them, that was the same. "Are there many other people living here?"

Aisha grinned at the question, though Light didn't understand why. "It changes. Some, like After and I, are permanent residents. Everyone else comes and goes."

"What about L?"

"He was here first." Aisha said. "And everyone understands that. He's really close to Watari." She glanced at the door. "I need to go. There's a fight in the other playroom."

"How to you know?" Light listened, but didn't hear anything.

"I have a feeling." Aisha said. "It was nice to meet you, Light." She smiled at him, before disappearing through the door. Light watched her go. There was definitely something strange about this place, for certain. Normally, he might assume the worst, and leave immediately. But his interest was piqued. Especially by the hostility L radiated at him. Now it was a mystery he wanted to solve, and he had never backed down from a challenge.

_I will find out what's wrong with you, what your secret is… Ready or not, here I come…_

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Feel free to guess. :)

After and Aisha, my incarnations of A, are both in here. I wanted to write something with both of them, for once.

Light, you dork...  
Li


	3. Schizophrenia

Chapter 2: Schizophrenia

Light made it his personal mission to find out what the mystery of Wammy's House was, starting with the person in the room next to his: L. He couldn't figure out why the other boy hated him so much. Light hadn't done anything to him, after all. L had hated him from that first moment he had seen him, when he had discovered that Light would be living here for a period of time.

Of course, L wasn't the only strange resident of the house. There was the little boy, Near, who had the same endless-ocean black eyes that L did. There were Aisha and After Always, brother and sister from the town, where their father worked at the blood bank. And countless others that Light had only glimpsed from a distance.

This morning, he woke in his new room, and it took a moment to remember where he was. He got up and got dressed, going to see what he could scrounge up for breakfast. When he arrived in the dining room, there were people going in and out of the kitchen, apparently preparing their own breakfasts. And what a bizarre assortment of breakfasts they were! Light saw Near eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes contentedly, while Aisha beside him was having a bowl of fruit. However, there was a man that Light didn't know eating fried chicken about three places down, and a woman eating a bowl of spaghetti beyond him. He caught a brief glimpse of L at the other end of the table, with what looked like an entire dish of tiramisu on the table in front of him. Unable to help staring, he wandered into the kitchen, seeing Mr. Wammy drinking tea at a small table in the corner.

"Good morning, Light." he said. "How are you?"

"Confused." Light replied honestly. "What's going on with breakfast?" Surely it was unnecessary to mention how strange it was that everyone was eating something different, and seemingly random, for breakfast.

Mr. Wammy smiled. "Oh, yes. I forgot to mention how meals work around here. Generally, because everyone prefers something different, they make their own breakfasts. The children ask the older ones to help. Lunch is essentially the same, eating when you're hungry. Dinner… Dinner is served at a reasonable time."

"And you let L eat a whole dish of tiramisu for breakfast?" Light asked incredulously. Surely you could get sick from that much of the rich dessert! And that was what L had for breakfast?

Mr. Wammy shrugged. "I do not encourage or discourage eating habits here. That is for them to worry about." He sipped at his tea, saying calmly, "Why don't you have some breakfast, Light?"

xXx

Light ended up making some scrambled eggs and toast and going out to sit next to Aisha, who was having a heated discussion with her brother. Near had disappeared, and After was eating a plate of garlic bread for breakfast.

"All I'm saying is that I don't understand why you want to eat that stuff!" Aisha was saying, indicating the garlic bread. "Considering all circumstances…" Neither had noticed Light sit down.

After pointedly picked up a piece of garlic bread and bit into it with a crunch. "It tastes good. Isn't that the point? That's why Near eats Frosted Flakes, that's why you eat fruit, and that's why L consumes more sugar-based products than anyone else on the planet! And damn the circumstances, by the way!"

"What circumstances?" Light asked, curious.

Both siblings turned to look at him, and he raised an eyebrow, wondering what he had said. After shook his head, bronze-colored hair falling in all directions, and blinked big, grey-green eyes. "Nothing."

"Garlic smells bad, and he insists on eating it anyway." Aisha said. After smirked, stuffing the last piece into his mouth.

"It's not like it'll _kill_ me!" he said with his mouth full.

Aisha frowned. "After, stop it! You're being obnoxious again."

"All I'm doing is commenting on the irony of the situation." After said with a winning smile. He got up to take his dish back to the kitchen, and Light noticed several people further along the table wincing away from the garlic smell. He looked back at Aisha, puzzled, as a blond-headed boy took the seat that After had just left, carrying a plate of chocolate-chip pancakes that looked like more chocolate than pancake.

"Good morning, Aisha!" he said cheerfully, then stared at Light for a moment. "Oh, you're that random guy that L hates!"

Light rolled his eyes, sighing, as Aisha reprimanded gently, "Mello! That's rude."

"Well, he is. And I see why." Mello stuffed his mouth full of chocolate pancake, saying with his mouth full, "Not like I care or anything…"

"Good boys who are almost teenagers don't talk with their mouths full, Mello." Aisha said, smiling. "If you want to do anything besides chores until your thirteenth birthday, get some manners."

Mello grumbled, but nodded, and Aisha got up to walk with Light to the kitchen. As they put their plates away, she said, "Go explore, and see if you can get acquainted with some of the people who live here. They'll likely be a bit wary of you at first, but they'll loosen up when they get to know you."

"Why are they so upset by my presence?" Light asked.

Aisha looked away. "It's just… odd, to have you here. No one new has come to stay here in a long time." Light could hear the lie in her voice, but he let it go. Deciding to take her advice and explore, he headed up to the second floor, beginning to look around.

He found a room with a table-tennis table, a moderately sized office, and three playrooms. The children in the playrooms stared at him oddly, but other than that made no comment. When he opened another door, he found himself in a large library. Shelves of books stretched all the way to the ceiling, and in an armchair in the corner, L was sitting, reading a book. Light was positive that he had seen L downstairs, only halfway through his tiramisu. Maybe he had decided to save the rest for later.

"L?" he asked hesitantly, ready to flee if the other started acting hostile again. L looked up, and broke into a wide smile.

"You're Light, right? The guy L doesn't like!"

Light's first thought was, _Does EVERYONE know by now that he doesn't like me?!_ His second thought was, _What the hell?_

"Uh… Yeah…" he replied warily, unsure. L grinned broadly.

"Wow! The resemblance is uncanny!" He set the book he'd been reading aside, hugging his knees to his chest. "Yeah, he was ranting last night about how terrible it was that Watari let you stay, and didn't Watari _know_ that this was a bad idea, and blah blah blah…"

Light had been lost from the moment that L had looked up at him. "And what do you think of the idea?" he asked, confused. What was wrong with L this morning? Was he delusional from overdosing on tiramisu?

"I really don't care one way or the other." L said cheerfully. "It does make things more interesting, having you around."

Light nodded. "I'm… going to go explore some more."

"Okay!" L waved, then picked his book back up and continued reading. Light fled the library, confused beyond belief. Was L schizophrenic? Was that what his problem was? Maybe this crazy house took in people with mental defects or something. Although, looking at Aisha you wouldn't be able to tell…

He peered back through the doorway once. L was still reading contentedly. Light turned to go, and ran into Mello.

"Why are you spying on him?" the blond asked.

"Because he hates me, and I want to know why." Light replied.

"_He_ doesn't hate you. But you look like someone L hates very much." Mello said, then smirked, adding sarcastically, "Spying won't help."

Light rolled his eyes, brushing past the annoying boy, and decided to head for the third floor, to explore an L-free zone. In the meantime, he could figure out how to learn what L was hiding from him. And Mello was wrong. Spying could help very much, if you were observant enough.

And Light certainly was.

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Three guesses, and the first two don't count. :)


	4. Behind Closed Doors

Chapter 3: Behind Closed Doors

**Light's Journal of L Observation**

_Observation 1: L eats tomato soup. When questioned, he insists that everyone eats a lot of tomato soup._

_Observation 2: When not consuming tomato-based products, L consumes more sugar than any person on this planet has any right to._

_Observation 3: L hates me for no good reason._

_Observation 4: L appears to be schizophrenic. When asked, he replies that "L" doesn't like me and "he" is completely neutral. (I have dubbed this new personality "R" to tell the difference. R is for random.)_

_Observation 5: R, as opposed to L, seems to be fairly cheerful most of the time. He enjoys hanging out with Mello. L, on the other hand, does puzzles with Near. I wonder if the two of them can tell the difference. _

_Observation 6: Aisha and After are obviously in on whatever secret this house is hiding. I think-_

"What are you doing?"

Light looked up, slamming the little notebook shut and turning to glare at Mello, who hung over the back of the chair, grinning obnoxiously. "Nothing." he growled, clearly indicating that the subject was closed.

Mello laughed, scurrying out of the room with baffling swiftness. Light was never certain how people around here seemed to be able to move so fast. It was like they were on fast-forward, all the time. He opened the notebook again, glancing briefly at his musings before closing it again. With a sigh, he got up to go to lunch. He was no closer to solving the mystery than he had been two days ago. Even with all the strange things going on around him, he still couldn't piece it together.

There had been a bizarre delivery the day before, a truck parking around the back. He had seen Mr. Always, After and Aisha's father, talking with Watari, and the two had shaken hands. The truck had been unloaded, and departed without event. Light never did find out what was in the boxes, or where they had gone.

He went downstairs, making himself a ham sandwich and continuing to think. A girl called Linda had gotten sick the other night, oddly enough. She exhibited no symptoms based on what Light had seen, but she had been deemed ill and hurried to bed to drink cherry-flavored medicine mixed into a smoothie. Or so Aisha had told him when he asked. It was strange. She was so willing to give him answers, but he was positive that over half of those answers were lies. What was so strange about this place that she had to lie to him about it?

He spent most of the afternoon reading in his room. He had gotten several mystery novels out of the library, and contented himself with trying to guess the answer before the fictional detectives. He glanced up in annoyance as he heard two loud voices coming down the hall towards his open door. Really, didn't people know that others were trying to relax?

"I'm so thirsty… It's a good thing we're having pizza tonight for dinner."

"Yeah. I don't think I could wait another two days."

"You're just not used to the way meals work around here, yet. It gets easier."

"But, I mean, this place is a godsend for those of us who'd rather not be murderers…"

The first voice shushed the second, as both men passed by Light's door. Light vaguely recognized them from seeing them around the house. Apparently the second guy had arrived at Wammy's only a few days before Light himself.

Waaaaait a minute…

Light's eyes widened as he actually thought about what had been said. Murderers? Who was a murderer? Was this place some kind of haven for escaped criminals? What had he gotten himself into???

Light forced himself to calm down and think rationally. Obviously that train of thought was completely derailed. This house was _not_ full of criminals. Even if L looked like a horror-movie reject, even if Mello could be creepy, even if Aisha lied to him a lot. They were good people. Mr. Wammy, certainly, because he had given Light a place to stay when he was practically broke, in a strange country.

Glancing at the clock, he noticed that it was dinnertime. Dinner was almost as strange as every other meal. It was only served 'properly' four nights a week. The other three, it was treated like lunch and breakfast: you ate what you felt like, when you were hungry. Light decided to head down and see if pizza really was on the menu for tonight. He put his book aside, heading out into the hall. He found himself behind L, following the other boy down the stairs into the dining room.

"Ah, L." Watari said when he saw them. Light smiled, seeing the pizzas that were sitting steaming along the table. Watari, Aisha, and After were setting out napkins, and Watari asked L quickly, "I think Beyond is on the roof. He's going to miss dinner. Again. Would you mind going to get him?"

L nodded, and was gone in another of those quick movements that baffled Light. However, Light didn't notice this time. He was too busy considering the possibility of meeting someone new. Beyond? Was he related to After, in any way? Obviously someone crazy enough to name their child 'After' might also be nuts enough to call a kid 'Beyond'.

Light moved to help Watari with the pizza, and the elderly man smiled warmly.

"This one is yours, Light." he said, setting down a small pepperoni pizza in front of Light's seat. "Normally we share pizzas between two, but you really haven't been here long enough to have someone to share with, yet."

L returned, and Light turned to see who had come with him. He recoiled in surprise as the second figure followed the raven-haired boy into the room. Mello, who had appeared at his side, laughed at his reaction. The second person looked just like L, in every respect. Messy hair, dark eyes, even the same outfit. Although, as Light looked, he could tell that the newcomer's eyes were tinged an odd red tone.

"Oh, good, you got Beyond." Watari said. "Sit down and eat, everyone." He glanced at Light, who was standing there stunned. "What's wrong, my boy?"

"There are… two of him…" Light managed to say.

Watari chuckled. "L and Beyond are brothers, Light. No one told you that he had a twin?" Light whirled to glare at Mello, who laughed again and flounced off to eat his pizza. Light sighed, sitting down next to Aisha and taking a slice of his pizza.

Beyond leaned over, saying cheerfully, "You really thought we were the same person?"

Light sighed, taking a bite of pizza and not answering the question. L smiled devilishly and said in a bored voice, "He's not very observant, apparently. We're very different, in things other than how we act. Although, how we acted around him should have given it away."

"You were playing me!" Light exclaimed through his mouthful. "You knew I thought you were the same!"

"We were careful not to be in the same place at the same time." said L blankly. "That's not the only difference between us, though."

"L's a slob." Beyond accused. "His room's a mess all the time. Crumbs and candy wrappers everywhere. Books and papers and his poor laptop… I'm surprised the poor computer hasn't suffocated in there yet."

"Well, Beyond is a clean freak. His room is perpetually spotless." L said, seeming bored. "He cleans it almost every day, and even wipes away all the _fingerprints_. Obsessive-compulsive to an obvious degree."

Light found himself laughing. "I still don't understand what's going on around here, but at least this clears up one thing. You are all nuts!"

"What do you mean, 'What's going on'?" After asked. "There's nothing going on."

"Yeah, there is." Light contradicted. "Don't think I don't see it. It involves you four, definitely. And Watari. There's something weird going on around here, and I'm going to find out what."

The four stared at him, then Beyond grinned. "A challenge!" he said happily. "Well then, Master Yagami, allow me to give you a clue!" He leaned forward conspiratorially. "Tell me, Light… Every time dinner is served properly, it's always got tomato in it. Why?"

Light opened his mouth to reply, then realized that he didn't know. Thinking back, he realized that it was true. The meals he had consumed since he'd been here were this pizza, spaghetti with tomato sauce, and tomato soup, not to mention countless uses of ketchup. He stared at Beyond, puzzled, and the twin laughed.

"If you can solve that, I think you'll have the answer!"

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Two chapters because I've been gone for two weeks. Sorry, guys.

I love the Wammy kids so much... :)


	5. Earthshatter

Chapter 4: Earth-shatter

Light found himself thinking almost obsessively about what Beyond had said to him. Every proper meal that was served had tomato in it. What did that mean? Obviously tomatoes were good for you; they had all kinds of vitamins and good chemicals and stuff, like lycopene. But that wasn't a good enough reason for Light. There was something else, something strange, going on around here. A simple explanation wasn't good enough.

As if to top it off, Aisha, L, and After had all been trying to convince him ever since that Beyond was just playing with him. If they were trying so hard to make him drop the subject, obviously it was something that they didn't want him to know. And if they didn't want him to know, he wouldn't rest until he found out.

He was searching the pantry for suspicious things, looking for the mysterious boxes that had come on the truck. He came up with nothing other than normal food and ingredients, but refused to get discouraged. Next he would try the refrigerator, and if he found nothing there, he would move on to the cabinets. He opened the fridge, rummaging eagerly through, but again found nothing. He turned on the cabinets with a ferocity unmatched in any previous assault on kitchenware, only to be stopped by Watari's quiet voice.

"Light, what are you doing?"

Light turned to grin sheepishly. "Looking for the bag of consommé flavored chips." he lied easily. Watari frowned, almost as if he could tell the young man was lying, but walked over to one of the cabinets and opened it.

"They are in here, usually, but I believe L has taken the last bag. You may pick a different flavor, if you like."

Light waited for him to leave, but it didn't seem like the elderly man would be exiting the kitchen anytime soon. Sighing, as if in disappointment over the chips, he grabbed a bag of Ruffles and trudged upstairs. What was there to hide? Watari obviously didn't want him to find it, whatever it was.

He retreated to the room where two table-tennis tables were set up. One ordinary table occupied the center of the room, and two half-tables were up against the back wall, for if you wanted to play alone. The ball would rebound off the wall and return to you. Light grabbed a ball and paddle, snacking on the Ruffles he had brought, and settled down to play. It was good, the mindlessness of being able to just hit the ball and have it come back. He whacked it hard, moving faster as the ball rebounded more quickly. It wasn't as good as real tennis, but for the moment it would have to do.

xXx

Once his half-bag of Ruffles was empty and he was tired of hitting the ball at the un-strategic and unresponsive wall, he tossed the chip bag in the trashcan and decided to go back to his room. Climbing the two flights of stairs to the fourth floor, the top one, he noticed that the 'special four', as he had started to call them, all had rooms on this floor. He walked by After's room, nodding as the bronze-headed young man waved. Aisha's room was next, but she was downstairs helping one of the other residents of the house with something. Next was Beyond's room, and he could hear voices.

"I win!" That was Beyond, cheering.

"No fair! You cheated!" Definitely Mello. He would recognize that kid anywhere. Light paused outside the door to listen.

"Just because I managed to roll double sixes doesn't mean I cheated, Mel." Beyond was saying, laughing.

"Yes, you did, I know it!" Mello shouted.

Light could hear the smirk in Beyond's voice as he replied, "Well, what are you going to do about it?"

"RAWR!" Light stepped into the doorway just in time to see Mello launch himself with inhuman ability over the small game table, colliding with Beyond and knocking him out of the chair. Light bit back a chuckle, then froze. Something wasn't right here.

Beyond growled back, struggling out from under Mello, and the child dove at him again, but his eyes were unnaturally bright, more blue than usual, and as he bared his teeth at the elder, Light saw the sunlight glint off longer-than-normal canines.

Fangs…?

He had to be seeing it wrong. But Beyond's eyes were a vibrant blood-red, and as he growled playfully and dodged, Light saw that he had fangs too. Someone was screaming, and it took Light a second to realize it was him. Beyond and Mello had turned, Beyond's eyes wide.

"Light!" Beyond said. He took a step forward, but Light screamed again, turning and running for the stairs, screaming all the way. Beyond and Mello stood in the hallway, dumbfounded, as L came out of his room. He took in the situation, and demanded, "What did you two do to him?!"

"Nothing!" Beyond cried. "We didn't even know he was there!"

L growled in annoyance, launching himself after Light. The boy had a head start, and L couldn't run as fast as he liked through the halls. In fact, it might be better if he ran normally. No need to scare Light any more. L could only guess what he had seen, but it was fairly obvious.

Light screamed all the way down three flights of stairs to the first floor, adrenaline giving him excellent balance to _run_ down all those stairs. As he raced down the last set into the front hall, he turned, skidding and racing for the dining room, and beyond that, the kitchen. Watari would be in there this time of day, working on dinner.

L chased him, leaping down the entire last flight of stairs to gain him some ground. It was taking infinite self-control not to run full speed and just head Light off, but the other would likely panic even further.

Light passed Aisha as he sprinted through the dining room, and she could only manage a confused, "Light!?" before he was past her. He hit the door to the kitchen, plowing through and almost running into Watari.

"Light, what is it?" Watari asked. A pot of tomato soup simmered on the stove behind him. Light took a deep breath through his panting.

"There are… They're… People in this house are…"

"Are what, Light?" Watari asked, looking concerned. He had a feeling what Light was trying to say, but didn't want to breach the subject without knowing for sure.

"I think they're…" Light caught sight of something sitting on the counter just behind Watari. His eyes flickered from it to the pot of tomato soup, and he screamed again. The scream waned as he fainted, and L was in the door, catching him and keeping him from banging his head.

"Damn it!" the raven-headed boy said.

Watari turned to him, frowning worriedly. "What happened?"

"Ask Beyond and Mello!!!" L shouted. "I don't know!" He stared at Light, currently unconscious and slumped in his arms, and shook his head. "I tried to catch him, but I didn't run full-speed."

"I'll go talk to Beyond and Mello." Watari sighed. "Take Light up to his room and sit with him until he wakes up."

"Is that a good idea?"

"Well, we have to tell him the truth now. He's likely already guessed." Watari said. "Ask Aisha to watch dinner." He strode out of the kitchen, and L frowned. He picked up the plastic pouch that had scared Light so, the kind that you keep blood in at the blood bank. Heaven only knew what Light was thinking right now. He sighed, a long-suffering sigh, hoisting Light up into his arms and going back upstairs. Aisha had been worried, but hadn't asked any questions.

xXx

L tucked Light into his bed, sitting down in the desk chair and staring at him. Now what? If Light knew what was going on here, he might decide to leave. L was almost happy with that thought, but somehow sad as well. As time wore on, he was slowly ceasing to compare the college student with the one he hated. He almost liked Light, in a way. It was hard, trying not to compare them, but L knew that he had to. It wasn't like that bastard was ever coming back to Wammy's anyway…

He could hear Watari down the hall, reprimanding Mello and Beyond. Careless, that's what they were. With Light in the house, they had all had to be on their toes all the time. But maybe now, things would go back to normal…

L sighed again, staring at the unconscious, troublesome teenager, and wondered if normal had ever existed in the first place.

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Everyone who guessed correctly, congratulations! And if you cheated and read other people's reviews, for shame! (wags finger)

...I really wanted to do Light screaming and running around like a twit. I was cracking up trying to write that part. :) Anyway, explanation next chapter. Not your typical vampires, L and his 'family'...

Luv, hugs, and vampire!L chibis!  
Li


	6. Revelations

Chapter 5: Revelations

Beyond scuffed his bare foot against the carpet, annoyed. Mello stood silently at his side, as both listened to Watari lecture them. It wasn't their fault! But here they were, regardless, and their guardian was irritated.

"…And you both were told that you had to be careful during the time that he was here. Beyond, I know that you have special privilege in this house, but that doesn't excuse carelessness on your part." Watari was saying.

"We didn't know he was there!" Beyond protested. "We were just goofing off. Do you know how hard it is to pretend to be something else, for days on end?" His red eyes narrowed. "No, you don't, you have no damn idea what it's like for us!"

"Beyond, I understand how painful it can be." Watari said. "In any case, Light will know the truth in just a short while, so as long as neither of you behaves in too frightening a manner, there will be no more need for secrets."

"All right…" Beyond grumbled. "I'm going up on the roof to watch the sunset." He walked over to the window, opening it and slipping out onto the roof. He walked around the window, going higher, and was lost from sight.

Watari sighed, turning to Mello. "Why don't you come with me and help Aisha with dinner?" he asked.

Mello nodded, following their guardian back downstairs to the kitchen. Watari set the child to work laying silverware out on the table, wondering to himself if L would completely mess up what they had to reveal to Light. He didn't want to scare the boy, but the truth was important now. At this point, all he could hope was that L didn't overreact.

xXx

L was still sitting in the chair at Light's desk, eyeing the unconscious boy. He didn't want to do this. He could tell Light it was a screaming-induced hallucination. He could tell Light he was sick. He could tell Light that he was losing his mind…

No, Watari would get mad if he did that. Light had to know the truth. L sighed, mentally prepping himself for more screaming to follow. The only person who hadn't screamed when she found out had been a girl, many years ago. But she had been a little strange to begin with.

L's train of thought was broken as Light groaned softly, his eyes fluttering open. He blinked at the room in puzzlement for a second, then muttered vaguely, "Where did the kitchen go?"

"I carried you from the kitchen, since you were unconscious." L said dryly. He noted in amusement the way that Light's eyes flew open wide and settled on him. Light sat up quickly, shifting back to put as much distance between the raven-head and himself as possible.

"Your brother… Your twin… He…" Light tried to say. "Are you…?"

L blinked. "Am I what?" he asked innocently.

"L, don't play dumb! I'm not stupid!" Light shouted, suddenly angry at the other boy. "Your brother and Mello have _fangs_, L! What the hell is going on in this house? What are you people?"

L closed his eyes for a moment, and Light waited, impatient. Then L's eyes opened, and in a movement too fast to see he was sitting on the edge of the bed, grinning right at Light. Outside the window, the sun was going down, and the fading light glinted off the pointy teeth in L's mouth. Light recoiled back.

"Ahhh!"

"We are vampires, Light." L said slowly, not reacting to the yell he had known was coming. "That is the absolute truth. At the moment, every tenant staying in this house is… more than human."

"Everyone…?" Light breathed shakily.

"Everyone but Watari. He looks after us, and allows those who need guidance and direction to stay here." L glanced at him, rolling his eyes. "He's far too kindhearted for his own good."

"You're all vampires?!" Light was still stuck on this fact. "And Watari _knows_? Is he crazy?!" His wide eyes remained on L's face, fangs hidden from view for the moment. "Wh-what do you do about eating? Don't vampires… drink… _blood_?"

"That is the answer to the riddle that Beyond posed to you the other night. Why every meal contains something made with tomato?" L said easily, smiling. "Think about it, Light."

L hadn't thought it was possible for the young man's eyes to get any wider. "The pizza sauce… the marinara sauce… the _tomato soup_…" Light turned a delicate shade of green. "I'm going to be sick…" L stepped back, allowing the other boy to stumble to the bathroom and be ill. After a few minutes, he returned, holding his stomach miserably. "Does that mean that I… ate…?"

"No." L shook his head. "Watari always made separate meals for you, and made sure you didn't notice that your food was any different. If you had been dining on food made for us, you would have noticed the difference in taste."

Light cringed. "So, let me get this straight… Everyone in this house except me and Watari is a vampire, and Watari gets blood from _somewhere_ and makes it into normal food…"

"Not 'somewhere'." L corrected. "He gets it from Mr. Always, After and Aisha's father. He works at the blood bank, so he has connections."

Light made another face, staring determinedly at anywhere but L's face. "I think you have a lot of questions to answer, L. If I'm not dead or vampire chow yet, I'm going to say it's safe to assume that you're not going to kill me." L nodded his head, and Light offered a small smile in return. "So, will you answer?"

"Come on." L went to the window, opening it and climbing out onto the roof. "It's perfectly safe, and Beyond and I are the only ones who ever go up here during the day."

Light followed him hesitantly. As he got out, he saw L shoo Beyond back inside hurriedly. His brother stuck his tongue out, but obliged. L sat down near the top of the roof, waving Light up to sit beside him.

"It's pretty…" the college student said, pointing to the sunset.

L sighed. "Ask away, Light. Whatever you want to know."

Light looked at L, then back to the setting sun. "Sunlight?"

L grinned. "Ah. Typical vampire myths out of the way first." He rolled his eyes. "The sun doesn't burn us in the sense the myths give you, but the youngest or newest of our kind will get normal human sunburn very easily. It hurts our eyes a little bit, and we… we stand out a bit more in the sunlight." Seeing Light's puzzled expression, he searched for an explanation that would make sense. "If you saw one of us in a crowd of ordinary humans, it would be like they were all normal and we were in HD." L said, using the TV analogy.

"Oh." Light blinked at him for a moment before thinking hard. "Crosses? Garlic? After eats garlic bread…"

"That he does. It's very annoying." L smirked. "Garlic is not enough to kill us or even make us sick. But if you had a sense of smell as strong as we do, garlic can be very irritating. Onions, garlic… Even walking by a candle shop at the mall is a pain. That many smells at once? That could make us ill." He thought for a moment. "Crosses… How they affect you usually depends on how religious you were when you were turned, and how much you believe vampirism to be a curse. It's a mental thing, not a physical thing. A psychosomatic sickness. They don't bother me at all, because I have always been an atheist."

Light stared off into the distance for a moment, then asked, "Sleeping in coffins?"

L actually laughed at that one. "Have you seen any coffins anywhere? We sleep when we're tired. We just don't get tired as often. So half the time, when you're asleep, we're still up and around the house."

"Well, that's reassuring…" Light muttered sarcastically. "You don't sleep, you drink blood, and I'm the only human in the house…" He rolled his eyes. "At least you don't kill people." Glancing over at L, he said teasingly, "So, how do you become a vampire, anyway? There are so many stories, I don't think I could even begin to guess which one is true."

L's wide eyes were wary, watching Light not-so-subtly for any sign of joking. But the other teenager was entirely serious. L bit his thumb absently, expertly avoiding his fangs, and considered. "You won't be frightened of us?"

"Like I said, if I'm not dead yet…"

"All right…" L sighed. "You can either be born a vampire, or be turned. When you are born a vampire, you will age normally until your blood matures, and then you are immortal."

Light's eyes widened. He hadn't considered that before. Everyone in this house, then, was going to live forever. The idea was staggering, but Light pushed it away, because L was still talking.

"Those who are turned, if they are turned by someone with mature blood, will be immortal immediately. If not, their blood will mature when their creator's does." L blinked. "One has to be near death to become a vampire. It is always a risk."

Light stared at him for a long time. L stared back, unwaveringly, waiting for the younger of the two to sort everything through in his head. Light finally said quietly, "So you're… how old?"

"Twenty." L replied promptly. "Just like you. My blood matured just a month or two ago."

Light stared for another minute or so, and then sighed. "God, L… You bring me up here and expect me to believe all of this… And the stupid thing is that I do. Everything fits. Everything." He looked up at the sky. "All I wanted was somewhere to stay for summer break. _Why me_?"

L smiled faintly. _Light is nothing like him…_ he thought to himself, watching the teen, who looked like he wanted to bang his head against the chimney. _And I think we can trust him._

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It's interesting to be able to rewrite the rules as I see fit. :D

So, to confirm for anyone who still had any doubts, they are indeed vampires. Now that Light knows the truth, the only question is, will he want to continue to live with it?

…Of course he will! Because I have too many ways to drive him insane to let him leave now! Mwahahahaha!

Love, and Beyond's jar of strawberry jam!  
Li

P.S. This brings a whole new level to the "Is it jam or blood?" question… XD


	7. Adjusting

Arc Two: Five Rooms on the Fourth Floor  
Chapter 6: Adjusting

With the explanation that everyone at Wammy's House, save Mr. Wammy himself, was a vampire, lots of things started to make sense to Light. Under any normal circumstances, any normal person would have gone running, screaming, as far away as possible. But the way that Light saw it, they hadn't hurt him yet, if they wanted to they'd have done it already, and he was interested in knowing more. Two weeks ago, he never would have considered anything like this ever happening to him.

But then again, two weeks ago vampires had been a silly notion on some junk mail in his e-mail inbox.

xXx

Since he knew the truth now, the other residents of the house saw no reason to keep up the human pretense. Therefore, Light saw some very strange things, unless they held back for his benefit. Feats of strength unheard of anywhere else, people moving at speeds no mere human could possibly reach… The best, however, had been witnessing Beyond jumping off the roof of the house and winging away in the darkness, leaping from tree to tree as easily as walking down a street.

One of the vampires in the house, a boy called Jaden who looked like a teenager, was a pianist. Even if it was impossible to tell how old he really was, there was no denying his talent. Vampires were faster than humans, and that led to some startling renditions of old classics, and some mesmerizing original pieces that would never be possible without the musician's heightened speed.

But slowly, very slowly, Light was adjusting to living in a house filled with vampires. No one treated him any different beyond feeling comfortable acting 'normal' around him. L even showed him the secret walk-in refrigerator in the basement where Watari kept the boxes from the blood bank. He found out, between L and Aisha explaining it to him, just about everything there was to know about this secret life of theirs.

One thing that had confused him, though, was the nature of his room. There were five rooms on the fourth floor, the highest floor of the house. After, Aisha, Beyond, and L took four of them, and the fifth was his. From the state it had been in when he arrived, he was fairly certain no one had stayed in that room for a long time. It had been strange. He remembered Watari searching through the book when Light had arrived, looking for seemingly any room to put him in but this one. L hadn't been pleased when he had been given this room either. He wanted to confront the vampire, but wasn't sure how to bring it up.

In the meantime, he was kept busy. Anything was much more challenging with vampires involved. They were faster and stronger by far, making sports impossible, but that didn't stop Light from trying tennis, both the real and table variety, against L. Video games, too. Their fingers moved so quickly on the buttons, they could KO your character before even the game itself knew you were dead. Of course, when playing with him, everyone would slow down a bit to give him some kind of chance.

Except L. L just liked to cream him at tennis on a regular basis. There was apparently nothing more satisfying to the raven-headed blood-drinker than listening to the tennis ball hit the fence as it zoomed past Light's human reflexes. Again and again and again.

He learned a lot about the relationships between others in the house too. Apparently there were couples and such in vampire culture. They could get married and have children. That was how people were born vampires. Others were turned, for whatever reason.

After and Beyond were best friends, and the same was true with L and Aisha. Beyond had a huge crush on Aisha, but had yet to admit it. Light thought that she already knew, though. You'd have to be _blind_ not to see it. Oh, yes, Light had learned a lot about Beyond these past few days. His favorite food was strawberry, for example. Jam, fruit, smoothies, etc.… Although seeing him devouring jam was disturbing. The first time Light had seen it, he'd thought the other was actually drinking blood. The twin was also OCD to a fault when it came to cleanliness. The carpet in his room was perfectly white, and there was never a thing out of place. Even when his hands and face were covered in jam, there was never a drop on his clothes or anything else…

Mello and Near, unlike the older four, were turned instead of born. Mello had been left, new-turned, on the front steps of the house, and had been there ever since. He was still aging, at twelve years old. Near was L's fledgling, changed and now nine years old forever. Light hadn't known what that meant at first, and so had asked.

xxx

_"What does that mean, he's your fledgling?" Light asked L as they walked back downstairs from the table-tennis room, where L had just won again._

_"It means that I was the one who turned him, and he is my responsibility until either his blood matures or he is old enough in years to take care of himself." L said softly. He frowned at Light, wondering, the same as he did every time a new piece of information was revealed, if this would be the last fact that would send Light screaming from the house, never to return._

_But Light never turned away, he took everything in stride. He met L's gaze evenly and asked, "Why did you turn Near?"_

_"Near was an orphan." L said. "He was very, very sick, and there was no way that the orphanage could afford medical care. I visited him once or twice, and took a liking to him. When it became apparent that he wasn't going to survive, I turned him to save his life."_

xxx

L did have a heart. Who knew? Light was fond of Near and Mello, even if he still hadn't forgiven Mello for letting him believe that the twins were the same person. And he was slowly beginning to understand the puzzle of the people he shared a house with. But, obviously, there were some things that he still didn't understand, no matter how hard he tried.

L shied from Light's room less and less as time went on, but Light wasn't satisfied without knowing why he acted like that in the first place. He cornered L in the library one day, finally asking the long-pondered question.

"Why don't you like my room?"

L blinked at him. "There is nothing wrong with your room, Light."

"L, I thought we were past you being evasive. Really. There's something about that room that you don't like, and it's connected to why you didn't like me at first. Why can't you just tell me?"

L raised an eyebrow. "We don't talk about that in the house, Light. I will be completely honest with you, it is not a subject we like to bring up." He thought for a second, then said, "Tonight, do you want to come out with us? Beyond, Aisha, After, and I… We'll tell you the truth, but you have to trust me, okay?"

Light nodded, about to speak, but was interrupted as Beyond nearly bowled him over, running by at full speed. "What the…?"

Beyond yelled something really fast that had the words 'bleach', 'jam', 'carpet', and 'dammit' in it. L and Light looked at each other and laughed. The crazy vampire had apparently dripped jam on his perfectly white carpet by accident.

"So, tonight, agreed?" L asked between laughs.

Light nodded. Tonight was perfect. Another mystery would be cleared up, and he'd be one step closer to totally understanding his housemates. Perfect, indeed.

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Edited. Mello's not immortal yet. I made that mistake the first time. Fixed!


	8. Because the Night

Chapter 7: Because the Night

Night fell like a dark blanket over the landscape of Wammy's House, casting everything into shadows. But to Light Yagami, the night was no longer something to be afraid of.

He had napped all afternoon, waiting for the night so that L and the others would take him out with them and explain things, finally. When it was finally the designated time, after a dinner of spaghetti with tomato sauce, Light was waiting eagerly to be shown the answers. L turned up at his door at eleven-thirty, a small vial in his hand and a grin on his face.

"What is it?" Light asked, looking at the little vial suspiciously. He got up, coming over to examine the ruby colored liquid it held.

"Vampire blood." L said. He ignored the startled gasp he received, explaining, "Just a drop. Definitely not enough to change you, even if you were in a state where you could be changed, but it can affect you for a little while. It will give you midnight gravity."

"What?" Light stared at him as if he had never seen him before. L couldn't be serious. He didn't really want Light to drink vampire blood, did he?

"That's what we've always called it, because it's only safe to show after midnight, when no one is around. We are stronger and lighter than humans, Light, and that means that to us, jumping could practically be flying." L said, smiling. "A drop of blood can give you midnight gravity too, just for a little while."

"So I'll be able to move like you do?" Light asked warily.

"Just as fast, just as strong, just as light." L said reassuringly, uncapping the vial and passing it to him. Light stared at him, then down at the small vial in his hand. Hesitantly he touched it to his lips, tipping the tiny amount of liquid into his mouth and swallowing quickly, like trying to take unpleasant medicine. He caught the vague taste of salt, a tang that only blood had, and then it was gone, and Light felt weightless.

He bounced experimentally on the balls of his feet, jumping slightly and lifting easily off the ground. Eyes wide, he darted towards the door, smacking into the wall going much faster than he had expected. "Ow…"

L laughed. "Of course, you haven't learned to live with it, and you're not as immune to pain as we are, so it will be a little disorienting."

"Is this what you feel like _all the time_?" Light asked. When L nodded, Light exclaimed, "This is amazing!" He whirled to look around the room, his eyes lighting on the desk by the wall. "So I could pick up the desk?"

"I suppose…" L said, highly amused by everything.

Light grinned, looking like a child at Christmas. He picked up the desk with one hand, holding it up easily. "You're lucky, L! Isn't this amazing?"

L said wryly, "But you forget the negatives, Light. We're vampires, cursed to be nightwalkers, to avoid attention to prevent people from discovering our secrets, and to live off the life of others."

"You don't kill people." Light argued. "That's more humane than any story ever paints vampires."

"But we take blood that would else go to a hospital, possibly to save someone's life." L pointed out.

Light frowned. "Now you're just trying to kill my good mood on purpose. All lives have the same value, L. Yours, theirs… It's the same."

L blinked at him, wonder in his eyes. "Very few would say the same, Light. Thank you." He looked at the clock. "Come on. The others are probably waiting."

xXx

They found Beyond, After, and Aisha in the front hall, waiting for them. After and Beyond were practically bouncing off the ceiling, eager to go.

"Is he flying high yet?" Beyond demanded, indicating Light. L nodded, and his twin whooped. "Good! Let's go!" He threw the doors open, the night-dark world spread out before them. Aisha turned, smiling, and reached for Light's left hand. L grabbed his right, and suddenly they were through the door, running faster than Light had ever imagined. But he was keeping up, whatever the blood had done to him making him able to match the vampires step-for-step.

Within minutes, they were in Winchester, slipping lightly and unseen from rooftop to rooftop. One of them gripped Light's hand loosely at all times, and when he questioned it, After, who was holding onto him at the time, replied, "You have our speed and our 'gravity', but not our invulnerability or our higher tolerance for pain. If you fall off a roof or something, you'll still go 'splat'."

But that didn't stop Light from trying everything he could think of. Leaping from trees to rooftops and back, across gaps much wider than he could have managed with human reflexes. It was amazing, and Light found himself wondering just how long it would be until this wore off.

Aisha looked up at one point when the five of them were crouched on the roof of a grocery store, breathing deeply before saying in a whisper, "Another vampire, L."

L raised an eyebrow. "Hunting?"

"Think so…" She paused a moment, then confirmed, "Yes."

"Well, we can't have that." L smiled. "Beyond, go tell our guest that that isn't how we do things around here."

Beyond smirked deviously. "With pleasure!" He slipped over the edge of the roof and was gone into the darkness. Light glanced curiously at L, and the vampire sighed.

"We're only safe because we're inconspicuous, and we don't hunt people. We ask the wanderers to come and stay with us for a while, or else to leave. If people start disappearing, the rest will start to ask questions. And if they get a mind to, it is possible to kill us."

"How?" Light asked.

"Contemplating murder, pretty boy?" After grinned, teasing.

"No, just curious." Light replied.

L blinked, thumb to his lips, thinking for a moment. He rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, his other arm around his knees. "Let's see… Fire. We can burn to death. Cutting off our heads…" He looked up at the sky, following the patterns of constellations with his eyes. "Stabbing us in the heart, if you do it right, will kill us. And, we can bleed out. We have healing abilities, but they take a little while to work. So we can bleed to death before it begins to work if it's a bad enough wound. Oh, and obviously we can starve to death."

Beyond swung back up to the roof. "Decided to take his leave." he said easily. "It took a little… persuasion, but we won't be bothered with his presence anymore."

"Beyond, you didn't beat the hell out of him, did you?" Aisha asked, worried.

"Of course not!" Beyond protested. "I told him we didn't appreciate him on our turf, told him he was welcome at Wammy's, and when he refused I told him there were three more waiting to back me up if he didn't leave. So he left."

"All right, then…" Aisha acquiesced, believing him.

Light leaned back on his hands, looking around at the four vampires sitting in a semi-circle in front of him. "So, are you going to tell me what the deal is with my room, or do I have to live in confusion for the rest of the summer?"

"We hoped you'd forgotten to ask, actually." Aisha admitted.

Beyond laughed. "Told you it wouldn't work. You two owe me five dollars each."

"No, I didn't forget. So are you going to tell me, or not?"

L rolled his eyes. "Of course, Light. It's a long story, though, just to warn you…" He looked at the teenager, seeing in his eyes a complete disregard for how long it would or would not take, and sighed. "This is how it was…"

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Merry Christmas, guys!

I love Light running into the wall. :D Such fun to write. I'm finally out of school, so I'll update next week as well, if not more than once.

Love!  
Li


	9. Truth

Chapter 8: Truth

"Years ago, though I'm not sure how Watari learned of the existence of vampires, he found Beyond and I and took us in to live with him in his giant house." L began. "He made a deal with Mr. Always about blood, and decided to allow any vampire who needed a place to stay to live at his house. Watari's friend Roger, who knew about us too, agreed to help, and we were the first five vampires who ended up living in that house. Beyond and I were abandoned by our parents, to protect us. We believe that they were killed in France for being suspected of being vampires. After and Aisha came to stay with us as well, and the fifth was an orphan vampire called Kira."

"Kira?" Light asked. "And he was the fifth?"

"Yes." L replied. "His situation was rather like Beyond's and mine. Watari gave us the five rooms on the highest floor of the house as a privilege, since we were to be permanent residents until we could make our own ways in the world." He leaned back, chewing absently at the tip of his index finger. "Kira was… interesting. He had very good ideas and strong opinions, and was always fun to talk with. We became good friends, especially since we were the same age.

"It was after that that Mello showed up. He wasn't the next person to come stay, because we had other vampires coming and going, but he was the next to stay on permanently. His blood hasn't matured yet, so we take care of him. He was left on our doorstep by someone, and we've had him ever since. He doesn't remember much of his life before he came here, so we have no idea who could have left him and why."

"Mello's a good kid, and we accepted him into our 'group', those who stay here permanently." Beyond said. "All addictions to chocolate aside…"

"You just don't like it because it stains, clean-freak." After countered. Beyond stuck his tongue out at the other boy, and Aisha waved her hands between them.

"Break it up, break it up."

L smiled. He continued, "So we lived for a long time like that, and everything was fine. People came and went, and there was never a problem."

"It was cool!" After said. "We're special, because it's actually our home, so people listen to us if we tell them things. We help Watari enforce the rules."

"But all of us together couldn't stop Kira." Beyond said bitterly. Light glanced at him curiously.

"Kira always had a different view than the rest of us." L explained, looking sad. "He was grateful for the place to stay, but he did not agree with all of our morals. He believed vampires were put on this earth to be the predators for human beings, and that asking us not to kill was like asking a lion or a hawk to stop hunting."

"Human beings aren't animals to be slaughtered for food." Aisha said. "There have been times where willing humans have been donors for us, but we try to avoid that unless there's an emergency."

L nodded. "Kira became less and less satisfied with Watari's way of running things. About two years ago, just after Near joined our ranks, actually, he finally rebelled. It was terrible. He raised hell about it, threatening to even burn the house down around our ears. When we found out what he was doing, we four, we went to try and stop him. But we were too late. Roger had already tried, and paid for it."

"He was dead?" Light asked softly.

"Roger was only human." L said sadly. "And Kira is a strong vampire. We found him, with Roger dead on the floor and blood on his lips, and we stood against him. He's powerful, even compared to the four of us. But the rest of the vampires in the house rallied with us, and we drove him away. He knows that he is not to return to Winchester. We will kill him if he tries. That was two years ago."

"You didn't try to get rid of him then?" Light asked. "Why let him go on, knowing that he's killing people somewhere else?"

"It's not our business to tell anyone how to live." Beyond said. "Even if that bastard deserved to be destroyed for killing Roger, we had no right to decide his fate. But we did have the right to tell him that he couldn't live _here_ anymore."

There was silence for a long moment, then Aisha said quietly, "We should head back. You look tired, Light."

Light blinked. "No, no… I'm fine…" He yawned, effectively killing the relevance of everything he'd just said. The weightless feeling was lessening, and L reached out and grabbed one of his hands. Aisha grabbed the other, and they were running again, sailing through the night towards home.

xXx

When they got back, L walked with Light to his room. Light flopped on his bed, rolling over and looking at L curiously. "So why did you hate me, then? Just because this is Kira's old room?"

L blinked. "You actually look very much like him. So much so, that when I saw you that day in the front hall, I actually had to stop from attacking you. I may have seemed relatively calm, but I was restraining myself. If you had been Kira, here to hurt Watari or any of us…"

"I look like Kira?" Light asked warily.

"Somewhat." L replied. "But you're nothing like him. I've seen that now." He sat down in the desk chair, pulling his knees up to his chest. "Kira was one of my best friends, and he betrayed all of us. I hated him for that. But Kira is far away from here, I hope, and we have you instead. It's been a long time since a human has been here, because we were all wary."

"Wary of what?"

"The last human that we brought here was a girl called Misa Amane." L said. "She was a bright, cheerful girl. She found out what we were and didn't care." He smirked at Light, adding, "She didn't even scream."

Light rolled his eyes. "What happened to her?"

"She fell in love with Kira." L said simply. "He turned her, though we didn't know until she left with him. That is the difference between Kira and ourselves, as well. Kira has turned someone for purely selfish reasons. I saved Near's life when I turned him, but he will miss so much now, being nine years old forever."

Light looked around the room. "So you emptied this room and never put anyone in it, pretending that it didn't exist until the day I showed up and there were no other rooms." He sat up. "Would I know Kira if I saw him?"

"You would likely be able to tell, now that you know the rest of us." L said. "Vampires stand out if you know what to look for, and Kira is particularly… charismatic."

Light sighed. "You know…" he said after a moment. "Even if I freaked out initially, I'm really glad I got to stay here. I mean, how many people get an opportunity like this?"

"Not many." L said. "Before you came here, Light, the humans who stayed with us, other than Misa, came and went without ever discovering our secret. You found out because you got lucky, and because we were unused to having to hide. We hadn't had a human here since Kira left, after all." He got up to leave. "Go to sleep, Light. We'll see you in the morning." He closed the door behind him, and Light changed into pajamas and got into bed. His mind was spinning with everything he had learned, and sleep was a welcome oblivion.

The last thing he remembered thinking was, _At least they don't hate me…_

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And there we have it! All the explanation you could possibly want! There's one more chapter in this little arc, and then we get into the _really_ silly stuff. :D Feel free to ask questions.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  
Li


	10. Black and White

Chapter 9: Black and White

Vampires didn't sleep. Not unless they were tired, which only happened after at least two weeks of not sleeping. Usually more. Therefore, there were people up all the time, at all hours of the night, at Wammy's House.

L could usually be found in the library, curled in a chair finishing whatever book he had taken to reading. The night after they had taken Light out with them, he was finishing up _Twilight_, which Light had given him to read.

"This is completely ridiculous." he said to himself, shaking his head. "At least it doesn't go with clichéd vampire myths, like garlic and sunlight, but still. We don't _sparkle_, for pity's sake!" He had read _Interview with the Vampire_ as well, and had scoffed at coffins and burning in the sunlight. If people knew how close vampires were to their everyday world, well… They might be a little more afraid walking the streets, by day or by night.

L glanced up from his mutterings about the book, listening intently. There had been a noise downstairs, like someone creeping around. One would think, in a house where no one slept, that would be a normal occurrence. But vampires made no noise treading around (one of the many reasons Light was perpetually freaked out), and shouldn't be audible even to L's sensitive hearing. There was always the possibility that it was just Watari or Light, up for a glass of water, but it never hurt to check.

L slipped soundlessly out of the library, jumping down the main staircase and glancing around. The sound was coming from the kitchen. He turned, making his way through the dark and silent dining room, easing the door to the kitchen open.

A small shape in a black-and-white striped shirt was going through one of the lower cabinets under the counter. A head topped with red-brown hair popped out, triumphantly holding up a bag of Cheetos. As the boy turned to put them in the small backpack he had sitting on the floor beside him, he caught sight of L in the doorway and froze.

"It's okay." L said quietly. "I'm not going to hurt you. Do not talk loudly, though, unless you want to call the rest of the house down here." He walked over, kneeling in front of the boy and asking, "What's your name?"

"Matt." His voice was guarded, suspicious.

"Well, Matt…" L continued. "What are you doing here?"

Matt frowned, fidgeting with the goggles on his head. He scrutinized L with blue-green eyes and said shortly, "I'm an orphan. I don't have a home, and I was hungry. So I broke in."

"How did you get past the security? There is an alarm on this house." L thought briefly to the lock by the front door, which required a five-digit code to get in. You could never be too careful about unexpected visitors.

"I hacked it." Matt said bluntly. "That thing is simple."

L gaped at him in amazement. This child, even if he wasn't a vampire, was apparently amazing in his own right. And an orphan… It would be cruel to not offer him a place to stay.

He stared at the boy, who was watching him warily, and smiled. "Would you like to stay the night? I can take you to an empty room." A small group travelling together had left the other night, leaving several rooms open.

Matt hung back a moment, then nodded. "Thank you…" He followed L up the stairs, bringing his small backpack and the bag of Cheetos. L took him to one of the spare rooms, showing him the bed and space all to himself. He smiled at the gratitude in the child's eyes. "We'll see you in the morning."

xXx

In the morning, Matt woke up much later than the others in the house. L got him breakfast, then sent him to play while he spoke to Watari.

Matt found himself in one of the playrooms on the upper floor, playing with his only real possession. The silver Game Boy Advance SP had been a present from his mother, and was the only piece of his old life he had left. He had taken to roaming the streets after his mother died, and the SP was the only thing he kept with him. He was playing Link's Awakening, fighting his way through the seventh labyrinth, when others entered the otherwise empty playroom.

"I told you there was a new kid!" Mello said, grinning triumphantly at Near.

Near twirled his hair absently between his fingers. "I didn't say that there wasn't, I said we should leave him alone until L introduces us."

"Why wait?" Mello asked. Matt had looked up by then, eyeing the strangers, and Mello walked forward. "Hi, I'm Mello! The albino brat behind me is Near. What's your name?"

"Matt…" Matt said warily.

Mello smiled. "So, how old are you?"

"I just turned twelve…"

"We're the same age!" Mello said happily. "Finally, someone to play with who's not Near!" He sat down on the other end of the sofa, grinning. "So, is your blood mature, or are you still aging?"

Matt looked at him blankly, unsure what he was talking about. Near had been looking around the room, and cautiously sniffed the air. "Mello…" he began uncertainly.

Mello ignored him. "You can tell us!" he said to Matt. As Matt remained silent, he finally said, "Oh, I get it! You don't know if we're like you or not!"

"Mello…!" Near tried again, taking a step towards the blond, but Mello still ignored him. The blond boy opened his mouth, holding his lip out of the way.

"See? Fangs. We're vampires too!"

xXx

"So you see, he has nowhere else to go, and as long as we are careful…" L was saying.

"Like we were careful around Light?" Watari asked, amused.

L scowled. "Beyond knows I would kill him if he messed up again." he said sharply. Then he sighed. "The rest of the 'adults' here would do their best not to scare a child. This time, I think–"

He was cut off by a scream from somewhere upstairs. L's sensitive ears recognized Matt's voice immediately. He scowled darkly, and Watari said, amused, "You were saying, L?"

L didn't answer, running out of the room and to the stairs. There were pounding footsteps going the opposite way, higher, so L assumed Matt was going to lock himself in his room. He raced to catch up to the child, higher speed helping. He arrived just in time to catch the door and keep it from slamming shut.

"L?" Matt's voice sounded small and scared. L pushed the door open, letting the boy latch onto his waist.

"What's wrong, Matt?" he asked quietly, trying to be calm for the child's sake.

"There were two kids, one with blond hair and one with white hair, and the blond one said they were vampires and he had _fangs_ and I thought they were joking but they weren't and their fangs were _real_!!!" Matt wailed, clutching his Game Boy tightly.

"I'm going to punish Mello and Near so badly…" L muttered to himself. To Matt, he said softly, "It's going to be okay, Matt. Don't worry." Matt looked up at him, unshed tears making his eyes shiny. "Mello and Near were just kidding, Matt. I promise." He felt Matt stiffen, and wondered what he had said wrong. Matt was staring up at him in something like horror, and L realized that the boy had gotten a glimpse of his fangs while he had been talking.

"You're one _too_!!!" he shrieked. L grabbed him before he could run away again, hoisting him up despite his squirming and marching up the stairs with him. Matt yelled and screamed all the way up the stairs, all the way down the fourth floor hallway to the room on the end.

Light looked up from the book he'd been reading, puzzled.

"L, what the hell is going on?"

L set the screaming child down. "This is Matt. Explain this house to him, please. He won't listen to anyone else now. I have to go have a talk with Mello and Near." He left, shutting the door behind him. Light stared at the red-haired boy, who had stopped screaming when he was put down but continued to cry quietly.

Light got up, walking over to him and kneeling beside him. Matt flinched, asking worriedly, "Are you one too? A vampire?"

"No." Light opened his mouth wide, showing Matt his lack of fangs. "I'm human, like you."

"Then why are you here?" Matt asked. "Did they bring you here to drink your blood?" He wiped at his eyes, rubbing away the tear tracks still there and watching Light curiously.

"No…" Light said gently. "They don't attack humans. They have a deal with the man who works for the blood bank, and they don't drink from people directly. They've never laid a hand on me with the intent to hurt."

Matt stared at him, still unsure but looking calmer. Light sighed with relief. At least he was willing to listen to him.

xXx

L frowned at Mello and Near, his arms crossed. Mello looked abashed, while Near remained silent and impassive as always.

"But there are never humans here!" Mello protested. L stared at him, raising an eyebrow, and Mello amended quickly, "Except for Light! But we know him…"

"That doesn't excuse your behavior, Mello." L said. "Upon hearing what you both have had to say… Near, you are not allowed to leave the house for the next week. Mello, you are not allowed to leave your _room_ for the next week."

Both looked displeased, Mello more so. "Why does HE get to leave HIS room!" he demanded.

"Because he did not blatantly try to reveal our secrets. He in fact tried to stop you, but you refused to listen." L said. "Now march. Aisha, After, Beyond, and Watari will be informed of your punishments. Light too, so don't think of trying to get one of them to be lenient."

Mello trailed sullenly upstairs, while Near disappeared towards one of the playrooms. L glanced up as he noticed Light coming down the stairs with Matt clutching his hand. He waited quietly at the bottom of the stairs for Light and Matt to reach him. Matt looked nervous, but held tightly to Light's hand and faced L.

"Sorry…" he whispered.

"Matt's doing better now." Light said. "He's a little wary, but he'll be okay."

L ruffled the red-head's hair. "That's fine, Matt. We're not going to hurt you. You'll just have to get used to us."

Matt nodded, and L and Light grinned at each other. Things were going to be just fine. If Light could get used to it, Matt could too. All it would take was time.

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Matty! At last, the last of our little family comes together. I love this chapter. :) And no, I'm not bashing Twilight.

I wanted to update before I finished Winter Break, but circumstances disallowed. So, two chapters for you all.

Love!  
Li


	11. Behave, Everyone

Arc Three: Utter Insanity

Chapter 10: Behave, Everyone

Light practically skipped back to the house from the mailbox, hugging the letter he had gotten tightly, a huge grin on his face. His parents were coming to visit! He hadn't been able to go home over the summer, hence his stay at Wammy's, but his parents were coming here to visit him instead! It was a good day; it was a wonderful, joyous, fabulous…

Light suddenly stopped, watching Mello scramble up a tree in the side yard effortlessly, helping Matt up behind him. After Matt had stopped being so nervous, and stopped staying in the same room as Light at all times, he and Mello had actually become good friends. But that wasn't why Light had stopped walking.

His parents. _Here,_ in a house full of vampires. What was he _thinking_?! This was a disaster waiting to happen, if the incident with Matt was any indication. He could imagine the result now. His poor parents might die of shock, or be scared enough to demand that he come home with them anyway. Then he would be forced to share a room with some circus freak. And really, if he was being honest with himself, he didn't want to leave.

Wammy's had been a godsend when he had nowhere else to go. The people there had terrified him, completely freaked him out, made him laugh, become his friends… And despite the fact that none of them save Matt were actually human, he liked it here too much to want to leave now.

He saw L sitting up on the roof, the vampire reading some book or another from the library. He glanced up, as if sensing he was being looked at, and smiled when he saw Light. Jumping lightly off the roof, he landed gracefully crouched in the front yard and ran over to the teen.

"What's going on, Light? You're standing in the middle of the driveway." he asked.

Light glanced at the book in his hands. "_Demon in my View_? Seriously, L, why do you read all of these vampire books?"

L gave him a strange look. "I _am_ a vampire. Not to mention, I think it's funny to see how wrong they get everything." he said. "Now, don't change the subject. What's that?"

Vampire-quick fingers snatched the letter from Light's loose grasp before he could protest. L read quickly, raising an eyebrow when he reached the end. "Your parents want to come here?" he asked, handing the letter back to Light.

"I know…" Light groaned. "Them, here, in this house full of lunatic vampires…"

"You know that we would never harm your parents!" L protested, misinterpreting the groan. "Any of your family would be as safe here as you and Matt are!"

"But Matt and I also know your secret. My parents don't. As seeing as your secret-keeping hasn't gone too well under these last two circumstances…" Light said. "I don't want my parents terrified out of their wits, or dragging me off home in a panic."

"You don't want to go home?" L asked, suddenly more serious.

Light scoffed. "Hell no! It's much more interesting here, and I'd just have to come back for college again in five weeks."

L grinned broadly. "If you want your parents to visit, I can make it happen. You forget, I'm practically in charge around here. I'll make sure nothing stupid happens." He turned, making to dash back towards the house, then looked back. "I'm glad you like it here." Then he was gone, running towards the house, yelling something to Mello and Matt on the way in.

Light watched him go, interested. What was L planning? Unless he intended to find a way to hide everyone's true nature…

xXx

About three hours later, Aisha came to find him in his room. She hovered in the doorway for a moment until he looked up, then said, "L wants you downstairs."

Wondering what the other could possibly be planning, he followed Aisha down the stairs, into the big living room where it looked as though the entire house was gathered.

"Everyone," L was saying, smiling as he saw Light and Aisha enter the room. "I have big news." Interested murmurs greeted this statement, and L continued, "Light's parents are coming to visit him in a few days, and while they are here, we must maintain absolute secrecy. Light himself might be fine with what we are, but we have no idea if his parents are the same. Therefore, for the time that they are here, no one is to behave in any way that could potentially give away our true natures. Understood?"

A general grumble of reluctant consent filled the room. L nodded, hopping off the chair he'd been standing on and coming over to Light. "See? Easy."

Light blinked. "And everyone will abide by that?"

"Well, according to your letter, your parents intend to stay at an inn in Winchester, and not here, overnight. So we still have the nighttime to behave as we normally would. That will have to be enough. It's only a few days, after all."

Light nodded, smiling gratefully. "Thank you, L. You don't know how important this is to me."

"I talked to Watari, and he said that it would be wrong to cut you off from your human life just because you are staying with us." L said. "It's not fair to you or your family."

Light grinned. "You're amazing, really. You act like a dork sometimes, but you're really a good person."

L reached for his hand, lifting it and kissing his wrist. "I'm glad you think so, Light." he said. Both knew that what would have been a gesture of romance or affection from anyone else was really neither when it came to them. It was a symbol of the trust between them; Light acknowledging L for what he was and expressing that he didn't care. He trusted the vampire enough to let him near his wrist like that.

Near wandered over, and L picked him up, asking cheerfully, "Want to play Risk, Near?"

Near nodded enthusiastically, and Light groaned. Risk took hours, if not days, and with vampires who didn't need to stop for sleep, it proved to be a grueling trial for a poor human. He had tried to play with them once, and found himself asleep on Russia at three in the morning. When he finally woke, he had found that they had just continued playing, taking over all of Light's territories and setting the pieces on his head when they needed to move through Russia. Never again.

He excused himself to go to his room, and L chuckled, walking with Near to go find the board game. Oh, was Light in for it these next couple of days. They weren't allowed to do anything that could potentially reveal what they were, but that didn't stop him from attempting to embarrass Light in front of his parents. And he had some _excellent_ ideas. He laughed to himself. This was going to be fun.

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Oh, yes. Yes it is. :D


	12. That Includes You, L!

Chapter 11: That Includes You, L!

It was finally the fateful day. The day that Light's parents arrived at Wammy's House for a visit. Light was waiting for them library; seeing as he didn't have anything better to do, he might as well read while he waited.

L had wandered in after about half an hour, and they had been chatting casually about the latest vampire book that L had managed to find, something called _Vampire Kisses_. It was marginally better than _Twilight_, in L's eyes, but still not entirely accurate.

"I still don't understand why people seem to think that we can't go out in daylight. What prompted that myth?" L was asking, rolling his eyes.

"Probably because you hunt at night, goof off with your powers at night where no one can see you, and don't sleep, L." Light replied. L wandered over to look at one of the bookshelves.

"And everyone recently just loves to write romance. Between this and that other one, I don't think I can take anymore. What is people's fascination with us…?"

Light laughed. "It's something forbidden. Something unattainable. The sexy, seductive creature of the night, beautiful and terrifying in its splendor. Although, that description doesn't fit you very well."

L didn't turn about, but asked curiously, "You don't find us terrifying, Light?" _Or sexy?_ his pouting inner voice complained.

"If I did, I wouldn't still be here." Light studied him quietly for a moment, then said, a small smirk on his face, "I suppose some people would find _you_ terrifying, since you fit the textbook description of a vampire. Pale skin, black eyes, and all of that. Maybe you even look a little like a zombie too."

L continued boredly consulting the bookcase, ignoring the fact that Light had even spoken. The teenager glared, before smoothing his expression completely blank and saying in a completely deadpan voice, "You're really not all that scary, though."

L turned in one of those movements that was too fast for Light to see, and all of a sudden was coming at him at almost full speed. Which, for L, was really fast. Light took a step back, opening his mouth to protest but not getting the chance as L crashed headlong into him and tackled him to the couch.

"Do I scare you now?" he asked, leaning forward to whisper the words in Light's ear. Light squirmed, completely uncomfortable in the position L had put them in. He was stretched full-length on top of Light, and didn't seem like he was going to move anytime soon. Light was sure he'd seen this in a book somewhere, but didn't really think about it for long.

"No!" he growled. "L, get off of me." He reached up to push at the vampire's shoulders, but the other's inhuman strength denied him.

L cocked his head, suddenly listening intently. Light didn't know what he heard, but a wicked smile slowly spread over the other's face. "I don't think I will, Light."

Light pushed at him again, but it was futile. A voice was heard outside the door, saying, "I think he was in here…" Someone thanked the voice, and the door opened. Light's parents stood in the doorway, an enthusiastic greeting on their lips, but it dissolved into open-mouthed shock as they stared at the position their son was in.

Light's eyes widened. "L, get the hell off!" He tried to throw the other off, but L simply collapsed down, resting his head on Light's chest.

"I don't want to… Light." L murmured, deliberately lowering his voice. Light saw red.

_Oh hell no he's NOT! In front of my PARENTS!!!_ He started to squirm, and was distracted by a bright flash. Everyone looked back at the doorway, where a teenaged girl with very long hair was holding a camera and wearing the biggest grin ever. Light momentarily stopped struggling, staring in confusion. "Who are you?"

"I'm Aki! I'm the one from the circus who's been staying in your room. You two are cute!" she said cheerfully.

Light growled dangerously. "L…" L finally got up, pouting.

"You're so mean…" he said sadly. Light glared at him, before getting up to face his parents.

"Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad. How are you?"

His parents continued to stare at him, stunned into silence. Aki elbowed her way past them, holding out her hand to Light. "Hi! I haven't done anything bad to your room! I promise!"

Light hesitantly reached out and shook her hand. "That's… good to know…" He walked over to his parents, giving them hugs. "Where's Sayu? Did she come?" He had a brief and horrifying mental image of Sayu wandering the house alone.

"No, Sayu decided to stay with her friend Emi while we visited you. But Aki asked to come, so we brought her along instead." Light's mother said. "She's really a sweet girl, once you get to know her. She and Sayu got along well."

The girl in question was staring at L, frowning slightly, as if confused. "Hmmm…" she muttered. "Interesting…" As she started to turn back around, she caught a glimpse of white in one of the corners of the library, her eyes widening in awe. "OH MY GOD KAWAII!!!" she shrieked, glomping the helpless Near, who had taken refuge in a quiet corner. Light hadn't noticed him there before, but Aki grabbed him up and hugged him. Near looked completely stunned, his eyes wide as he was spun around. "You're adorable!" Aki cried.

L walked over, easily picking his fledgling out of her grip. Near continued to stare at Aki as if she were some kind of psycho. L tightened his arms around the young vampire, saying casually, "This is Near. He is one of us who stays here permanently."

"It's nice to meet you, Near." Mrs. Yagami said politely. Mr. Yagami nodded in the background.

"You should show your parents around, Light." L said, smiling faintly. Light scowled in his general direction, still not forgiving him for his little stunt before, but led the way to the entrance hall regardless.

xXx

They were intercepted by Watari and the rest of L's group when they got to the entrance hall. Watari borrowed Light's parents for a few minutes to ask them about living arrangements for while they were in England, while Beyond, Aisha, and After remained to get to know the circie in their midst. As soon as the adults were gone, Aki turned to Light, hands on her hips.

"So, are you just not telling your parents, or are you still human?"

"What?" Light asked. All four of the older vampires tensed at the question, and L set Near down, shooing him off to play.

"What the hell are you on?" Beyond asked. "Human? We're all human here, last time I checked."

Aki grinned, walking over and resting her head against his shoulder, invading his personal space. "Really? I don't think you're human at all, but it's difficult to guess with Light." Beyond glanced sideways at Aisha, who returned the agitated look with a brief smile and a shrug.

"I'm human." Light said. "Same as you and everyone else."

"But _they're_ not!" Aki whined. "Unless they've all got you fooled." She stepped away from Beyond, and the red-eyed twin sighed in relief. She walked over to L. "Don't think you can play me as easily as you're playing his parents. I know what you are. All of you."

"And what would that be?" L asked mildly.

"Vampires." Aki said, grinning triumphantly as all of them involuntarily flinched, confirming her statement. "Don't worry, I'm not going to spill your secrets. I live in a circus that's pretty much the same thing: a refuge for vampires. They make the best acrobats, after all. Anyway, one of them told me about a similar house in England, so when I heard your parents were coming here, I asked to come along."

All of them stared for a few second, then L said bluntly, "Okay."

And that was the end of it.

xXx

When Light's parents returned with Watari, they were taken on a tour of the upstairs after being introduced to After, Aisha, and Beyond. Really, the names weren't as strange to them, considering that their own son was named 'Light'.

They were shown the various playrooms, the table-tennis room, and the infinite bedrooms. Light's dad sighed dramatically at one point, and when asked what was wrong, Mr. Yagami replied, "I just keep expecting you to open another door and have a swimming pool or a theme park hiding behind it."

"No…" Light replied. "No pool. Maybe we should think about that." And if either of his parents noticed the 'we', which showed that Light definitely felt a part of the house, neither said anything.

They got to the fourth floor, and Light began to trek down the hall.

"After's room, Aisha's room… Beyond's room…"

Mrs. Yagami stopped dead at the doorway to Beyond's room, staring at the white carpet. "How does he do that? Keep it so clean?"

"He cleans it twice a day. He's OCD like that." L said. After and Aisha had been called away to help with something downstairs, and Beyond had been dragged off by Mello and Matt, leaving just Light, L, Aki, and Light's parents.

"_Twice _a day?" Mrs. Yagami said incredulously. "That's amazing. Where does he find the time?"

"Here and there." Like, four in the morning, but L wasn't going to tell her that.

As they moved on, Aki paused in the doorway of Beyond's room, considering. That floor was just TOO white. It needed some color to spruce things up. After they were shown L and Light's rooms, after the group passed by Beyond's door again, Aki slipped inside while they weren't looking. She looked around the room, grinning evilly and pulling out the package of twisty balloons that any good circie kept in her pocket.

This was going to be fun.

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Aki-chan wanted to be my circus performer, so I obliged her. We sat around and came up with all of this ridiculous stuff together. She and L are going to drive Light and Beyond _insane_! :D

This arc is so much fun...  
Li


	13. The Consequences of Balloons

Chapter 12: The Consequences of Balloons

Beyond hummed absently to himself as he walked back to his room. Mello and Matt had talked him into playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl with them for at least half an hour, during which despite their higher reflexes Matt had managed to destroy them all playing as _Kirby_. Beyond hated Kirby.

He wandered up the last flight of stairs, opening the door to his room and freezing in shock and horror. There were balloons EVERYWHERE. Piles and piles of balloon animals in all colors covered the floor. They were heaped on his bed, his dresser, everything! And in the middle of the color maelstrom sat Aki, grinning and looking very pleased with herself.

"What did you do?!?" Beyond howled. Aki shrugged. She batted a balloon away, watching it drift towards the bed. It was a heart with the letter B wrapped around it.

Beyond yelled something unintelligible and began grabbing armfuls of balloons, taking them out into the hallway. Aki couldn't see where he was putting them, but she sat there until all of the balloons were gone. Beyond returned, pausing to survey the floor. He had popped a few by accident, but that was nothing that couldn't be vacuumed up later.

He turned to look at Aki, grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her out into the hallway. He walked down to the next door over, throwing her into L's room to land in a giant pile of balloons. He then locked the door from the outside and went to find the vacuum.

Aki looked around, knocking a few balloons out of the way and wandering over to L's desk. Picking a few jellybeans out of a bowl, she sat down on the bed to wait and see if anyone would come to release her.

xXx

Light and his parents sat down to a nice lunch downstairs, with a majority of Light's friends from the house. Beyond was the last to join them, putting the vacuum away and taking his seat at the table.

"Where's Aki?" Mr. Yagami asked. "Did you see her upstairs?"

"She said she wasn't hungry, and was going to explore some more." Beyond said airily, settling down to eat.

There was a brief explanation of eating habits, while Light's parents watched in horror as L ate half a cheesecake by himself for lunch. Beyond had a bagel with strawberry jam, After had a small sandwich that was secretly on garlic bread, and Aisha had a bowl of fruit. Finally getting into the spirit of things, Light was having consommé potato chips with ranch dip, and a bowl of mashed potatoes. And that was it.

"Do you eat like that all the time?" his mother asked worriedly.

Light shook his head. "Just sometimes. What's the good of living in a house where you can eat whatever you want, if you don't take advantage of it once in a while?"

Both of his parents glanced at L, then back at their son, and seemed to decide that he wasn't a deranged sugar junkie like the raven-headed boy. While it wasn't actually reassuring, it helped a little.

xXx

Lunch was fairly uneventful. Aisha had to smack After over the head when he kept making comments about garlic and tomatoes, as it was border-lining flat-out telling the Yagamis the truth, but other than that nothing strange happened. After lunch, Light, L, and Light's parents left the house, as Mr. and Mrs. Yagami wanted to see if L was as proficient at tennis as they had heard. Light was anticipating another loss, but had resigned himself to doing his best anyway. Especially with his parents watching.

They played for an hour and a half before a decisive victory was declared. L had only won by one game in the last set, as Light was getting better at predicting the vampire's moves. Even if his speed was still unmatchable, Light was learning to time his hits carefully to be able to return most of them.

L came over to shake his hand across the net. "Good game, Light." he said, smiling wickedly.

Light raised an eyebrow at the expression. "Umm… Thanks?"

L glanced at Light's parents, who were watching from the side of the court. He leaned over and kissed Light's neck, almost too quick to feel, and grinned as Light glared at him.

"L!" the auburn-haired boy raged. "What is wrong with you?!"

"I consider that my prize for winning, Light." L said innocently. If there was such a thing as chibi eyes in real life, L would be turning them on full-force right now.

Light glowered at him and walked away, back to his parents, who were giving him strange looks. Mr. Yagami in particular looked very uncomfortable. L grinned, following along behind as they went back to the house.

xXx

Plan 'Embarrass Light in front of his Parents' was going well, if L did say so himself. As he walked up the stairs to his room, he contemplated all of the other silly things he could do to the other boy.

Finding the door to his room locked, he hummed questioningly and pulled the key from his pocket, undoing the lock and going inside. There were balloons everywhere, but nothing else seemed to be out of place. He wandered over to his desk, noticing that there weren't any jellybeans left in the bowl, and pulled out the bag from a desk drawer to refill it.

"That's where it was!"

L turned around. Aki was sitting cross-legged on his bed, a bag of Hershey's kisses sitting in front of her. By way of explanation, she said, "Beyond locked me in here. And I was hungry. I missed lunch."

L blinked at her, seemingly unperturbed, and nodded, before going on refilling the jellybean bowl. Aki watched him for a moment, then said, "Earlier, you were trying to embarrass Light on purpose, weren't you?"

L turned back around. Perceptive girl. "Yes. Embarrassing him while his parents are here is one of my highest priorities."

Aki grinned devilishly. "And freaking out your twin happens to be high on my priority list."

L was silent a moment, then smiled as well. "I think you and I are going to get along very well…"

xXx

Beyond was ranting his troubles to Mello, who was eating a chocolate bar and listening intently. The balloon bits were gone, and everything was back to how it was supposed to be: spotless.

"But you didn't see the _look_ she gave me! Like she knew exactly what she had done, and didn't even care!" Beyond was saying loudly. Mello sighed, taking a bite out of his chocolate bar.

"You're making a big deal out of nothing. You got them all up. It's not like they stain." he said. He paused, about to take another bite, and stared at the doorway.

Beyond looked up from his mental rant to see L and a grinning Aki standing there.

"You left this in my room." L said blandly, indicating Aki. Beyond stared at her in horror.

Aki walked over to Mello, smiling. "Hey, you're Mello, right?" she said cheerfully. He nodded, and she eyed the chocolate bar in his hands. "Can I see your chocolate bar?"

Mello watched her for a second, then smiled deviously and handed it over. Beyond breathed weakly, "No…" but it was too late.

Aki began to drop and catch the chocolate bar, her expert circus reflexes coming in handy. She watched in amusement as Beyond's attention remained riveted on the chocolate, his expression becoming more and more agitated. She balanced on one foot, flipping it into the air and catching it in a type of one-handed juggling. Finally, she let it slip just off the tips of her fingers, falling to the white carpet. Beyond let out an agitated yelp, moving to catch it, but Aki dramatically 'lost her balance', bringing her other foot down on the chocolate bar and crushing it into the carpet.

That was the last straw. Beyond let out a shriek that sounded inhuman, grabbing Aki and hurling her at the window. Thankfully for the circie, the window was open, and she sailed right through and was gone. Beyond was already down the stairs, screaming blindly about bleach.

L stared at Mello, and both burst into laughter.

xXx

Somewhere outside, After looked up just in time to catch Aki as she sailed down.

"That was Beyond's window. What did you do to him?"

xXx

That evening, when Light's parents and Aki departed for the inn in Winchester, it was an interesting goodbye. Mr. and Mrs. Yagami kept shooting Light and L strange looks, Light kept glaring at L, and Aki just smiled and looked around, wondering where Beyond had gotten to. He was upstairs bleaching his carpet, but she didn't know that.

"Go look around Winchester tomorrow." Light was telling them. "You can come by here later in the day."

Mr. Yagami nodded. "We'll see you tomorrow, then, Light." As they walked back to their car, parked in the driveway, Aki waved over her shoulder at L.

"Your parents are nice." L said.

Light glared at him. "They won't like you so much if you keep acting like a complete weirdo when they're around." L gave him the adorably clueless look, and Light sighed. "Not that you care…"

L grinned innocently and ran back inside, leaving Light out in the driveway. If the remaining days of his parents visit were anything like this one, he was going to go completely insane.

Or kill L. One or the other.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Kekekekeke. Fun times, fun times...

Enjoy!  
Li


	14. No Rest for the Mischievous

Chapter 13: No Rest for the Mischievous

At five-thirty in the morning, Near padded down the stairs and into the kitchen. He had actually been asleep all night, having finally crashed after a few weeks without sleep. At least half the house was asleep, now that he actually listened for the tell-tale sounds of awake vampires. Normally there weren't that many at one time. Everyone must have been exhausted.

He poured himself a bowl of Frosted Flakes with milk, sitting down at the kitchen table with his large white teddy bear. He didn't want to bother the others this early, not if most of them were sleeping, so he was as quiet as possible. But as he ate, his sensitive ears picked up the distinct sound of someone creeping around. Someone human. Light never got up this early, ever. So who was it?

Near reached up to rub sleep from his eyes, and looked up as the kitchen door opened. He froze, and a shrill cry split the air.

xXx

Aki crept into the front hall of the house, trying not to make any noise. She had left a note for Mr. and Mrs. Yagami, telling them that she had gone to Wammy's, and to enjoy Winchester. She wanted to creep around a bit and see what was going on in the early morning.

She gently pushed the door to the kitchen open, and stopped at the sight of Near eating cereal, his teddy bear sitting beside him. He stopped right in the middle of rubbing his sleepy eyes, staring at her in surprise, and Aki couldn't help herself.

"Kawaii!" she cried shrilly, running over and hugging the young vampire. Near blinked in shock, not fighting to get away, but merely staying perfectly still.

Within thirty seconds, there were ten people in the kitchen, including L and Aisha. Most turned away with a brief groan, '_Oh, you again…_', and went back to whatever they had been doing. L once again rescued Near from Aki's hug of doom, returning him to his chair.

"Please," he said quietly, "Restrain yourself from trying to crush my fledgling to death at every opportunity."

Aki grinned sheepishly. "Sorry…"

Beyond stumbled into the kitchen, blinking sleepily. "I need jam… What's going on…?" His eyes drifted lazily around the room, before seeing Aki. "Oh, hell."

Aki grinned innocently. "Morning!"

xXx

They had breakfast, six of them, in the kitchen. Four vampires, Light, and Aki, all eating whatever they felt like, really. Most, like Light and After, who had been asleep, clutched coffee desperately. Aki was having some just because she liked it. L had hot chocolate instead, and Aisha had grape juice. Beyond drank strawberry smoothie, rubbing sleepy eyes once in a while.

"You should have some coffee!" Aki chirped at the sleepy vampire.

"I don't drink coffee." Beyond said sullenly. "It stains your teeth."

Aki grinned charmingly. "Would you drink it out of my mouth?" she asked, pursing her lips as if to kiss him. She had watched too much Ouran High School Host Club not to take advantage of the moment.

Beyond turned an odd shade of puce, splattering his glass of strawberry smoothie everywhere. "NO!"

"Beyond!" Light whined as flying smoothie went all over his pajamas. "Damn it, watch where you're flailing!"

"But she…!" Beyond tried, then gave up, poking at his jam-drenched bagel with a resigned look on his face.

"Light, dear, you might want to go change." L suggested, grinning when Light glared at him.

"Thank you, L. I'll keep that in mind." He defiantly took another bite of waffle, daring L to say something else. The raven-headed vampire grinned, staying silent but shifting and running his foot over Light's. "Dammit, L, stop touching me! Eat your damn breakfast!"

L smiled innocently, and Light rolled his eyes. The 'Me?' face was not going to work, not even accompanied by chibi-eyes. He looked up, seeing everyone at the table looking at him oddly, and sighed.

Beyond looked sorrowfully at his empty smoothie glass, getting up and retrieving a bottle of Fiji water from the fridge. Aki stared for a moment, then asked, "What's that?"

"I only drink Fiji water." Beyond said shortly, refusing to glance in her direction.

"Interesting…" Aki murmured. She said nothing more, and breakfast passed in relative peace after that.

xXx

Sometime after breakfast, Aki snuck back into the kitchen, going into the fridge and pulling out the Fiji water bottle, reading the back.

"…'this water has never been exposed to the open air, until you open the bottle'." she read to herself in disbelief. Was this guy OCD or what?

Smirking, she poured the water out and refilled the bottle from the tap, then hid it back in the fridge like normal. She snuck out the other door of the kitchen, going around to watch Beyond, who was coming that way.

He walked into the kitchen and pulled out the bottle of water, taking a single sip. He spluttered it out, coughing. "Ugh!" He could taste the impurities of the tap water easily. A faint giggle caught his sensitive ears, and he looked up slowly. Aki waved at him from the doorway, and he grimaced.

"You are EVIL, girl!" he wailed. "What is your determination to ruin my life?!?!"

"But you're such a nice person…" Aki said, grinning. "What if I like you?"

"You don't have to TORMENT ME at every opportunity!!!" Beyond shrieked.

"But it's such fun!" Aki bounced over and hugged him, and he froze. It took a few moments for him to regain enough function to shove her away, but by that point, he had locked eyes with an astonished Aisha standing in the doorway. She turned, leaving quickly, and Beyond pushed Aki across the room.

"Dammit!" he cried. Glaring at Aki, he hissed, "I _REALLY_ don't like you!" before tearing out of the room after Aisha, yelling, "A! Wait! It's not what it looks like!!!"

Aki almost felt bad for him, but she was having too much fun. She giggled, going off to look for Mello.

xXx

That afternoon, Light was sitting out on the lawn, reading with his back against a tree, when a shadow blocked the sun. He looked up, frowning at L. "L, you're blocking my light. It's hard to read like that."

L smiled, stepping to the side. "Sorry, Light." He glanced at the driveway, tilting his head to the side, listening. He pulled Light upright, the teenager dropping his book to the grass, and forced him against the tree.

"L!" Light yelled. "What are you doing?!"

"Having fun." L replied. He leaned forward and nuzzled Light's neck, just under his ear. "Heightened senses come in handy."

Light thought about this for a minute, then his eyes widened. "You hear them coming! You can hear my parents' car coming up the driveway! _You're doing this on purpose!!!_"

"Light, what makes you think that? Maybe I just enjoy your company." L smiled, his lips still against Light's neck. Light growled at him, squirming, but as usual L's strength was too much for him. He resigned himself to another round of humiliation in front of his parents, when a yell came from absolutely nowhere.

"I'll save you!"

L twitched, letting go of Light and reaching up to pull the garlic-tipped plunger dart off of the back of his shirt. He turned around, raising an eyebrow at the black-clothed figure now standing in the front yard. The person held a Nerf dart launcher, and every dart had garlic on the tip of it.

"Noir, please…" L sighed. "Now's not a good time."

"So I should just let you drink that poor guy's blood?!" Noir demanded.

"What the hell?" Light asked, pushing himself away from the tree.

L turned back, rolling his eyes. "Noir lives down in Winchester. He's seventeen, and an amateur 'vampire hunter'. He's of the opinion that we're all vampires."

"You ARE all vampires!" Noir yelled. "And I know it!" He pulled a crucifix from seemingly nowhere and held it up. L blinked.

"Noir, Mello wears a rosary. That won't work. You've tried that before."

Noir ignored him, letting out a wailing battle cry and charging him. He hit L full speed, and the vampire fell back, sacrificing strength and balance to keep the illusion. A normal human would have fallen down with that impact, after all. L flailed clumsily, somehow turning over as he fell, catching Light on the way down. He landed on top of Light, and Noir landed on top of him, both humans having the wind knocked out of them. At that moment, Light's parents' car pulled up, and they got out and stared. From underneath the pile, Light groaned.

Of _course_…

Noir got up hurriedly, grabbing his dart launcher. "You win this time, vampire, but I'll be back!" He raced past Light's parents, apparently heading back towards Winchester. Light pushed at L, who seemed content to just lie there, and sighed. What a fun conversation _this_ was going to be!

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Poor Light... Oh, who am I kidding? I love tormenting him. Haha.

Has anyone ever actually read the back of a Fiji water bottle? Weird! It seriously says something just like that.

Noir is there to add to the silliness. He serves no real purpose other than to be a temporary "antagonist". Note the sarcastic quotes. :D

Enjoy your quicker-than-usual update!  
Li


	15. Complete and Total Chaos

Chapter 14: Complete and Total Chaos

After one awkward-as-hell conversation with his parents, Light was pleased to find that most of the rest of the week was fairly normal. L still teased and made random comments and did his very best to get Light in compromising situations while his parents were around, but it was nothing major. Aki continued to pick at Beyond, who became more and more spazzy as the days went on.

On the last day of his parent's visit, Light was in the library, reading, when L walked in. The vampire, recently, had begun to inspire feelings of innate panic in him, and he tensed involuntarily. L walked over, sitting down in Light's lap and winding his arms around the teen's neck.

"Hi, Light."

"What do you want?" Light asked.

"Oh, nothing."

Light glared. "Then get off." Voices were getting closer outside the door, and L licked his neck.

"I don't think I want to, yet."

The door opened, and Beyond walked in, followed by, of course, Light's parents. Beyond was in the middle of saying, "I saw him in here earlier…" All three stopped and stared, and Light mentally groaned.

L nuzzled closer, resting his head on Light's shoulder, just to be annoying. Light's father took a deep breath, and said, "Light… Your mother and I wanted to tell you something…"

"What is it, Dad?" Light asked. He elbowed the vampire on his lap, hissing, "Get OFF, L!" He was ignored.

Light's dad looked uncomfortable. "Well, your mother and I… We wanted you to know that whatever makes you happy, we will be okay with it. Even if you…" He trailed off, looking pointedly at L.

"Ugh! Dad, no! He's fooling you! I'm not in love with L!" He wondered, in a moment of temporary L-inspired insanity, if his parents would be as… accepting if they knew that L was a freaking vampire as well as a male. Light managed to force himself to his feet, and L looped his arms around his waist.

"But Light… I thought we had something special… You were just playing with me?" he pouted, expertly hiding a devious smile.

"NO! I was not PLAYING, L!" Light yelled. "Don't make me hit you!" Not that hitting him would do anything to the practically invulnerable immortal…

"Light is so abusive…" L murmured sadly, moving away and wrapping his arms around himself, appearing the picture of sadness, with kicked-puppy expression to match. Beyond was grinning, Light's mother was looking away, and Light's father looked ready to either have a heart attack or yell at Light.

"Light! That's no way to treat someone who loves you!" he cried, sounding scandalized.

"But – !" Light began.

"Light Yagami, if you've been abusing my twin, I'll make your life hell." Beyond said, joining in the game.

"I'm not playing, I'm not abusive, and I'm not – !" But before he could force out the 'in love with L' that ended that sentence, the breath was knocked out of him by L colliding with him and burying his face in his chest.

"You DO like me!" he cried.

"NO!" Light howled. A flash went off, and Aki stepped into the room with her camera. She smiled deviously as soon as she saw Beyond.

"There you are, sweetie!"

"QUIT RUINING MY LIFE!" Beyond yelled out of nowhere. She ignored him, gesturing to L and Light. "Lover's quarrel?"

"Uhh…" said Light's father uncertainly, staring at his fuming son and the twitching Beyond. Aki hugged Beyond, asking teasingly, "Did you miss me? I know you were mad, but I think we can work through this, babe."

Beyond's twitching redoubled, becoming a violent shuddering. "GET AWAY FROM ME!"

L looked over at him and smirked, before looking back at Light. "See? They've made up…"

"I. Don't. Love. You." Light growled.

L frowned. "You really need to come out of the closet." He paused. "Or we could always disappear into a closet. Preferably a deserted one…" Light paled until he was white, and struggled valiantly to get out of the vampire's iron grip. Light's mother blinked.

"We should leave you kids alone…" she said quickly, grabbing Light's dad. L smiled.

"Thank you, Mrs. Yagami." he said. "We'll have… lots of fun…"

Light began to scream. He hadn't screamed this loud since he had discovered Beyond and Mello were vampires. He screamed until he was blue in the face and passed out. As before, L grabbed him before he could hit the ground and hurt himself, cradling the unconscious teenager. Looking up at Light's completely stunned parents, he smiled and said softly, "Poor Light can't take a joke, but he's so much fun to tease…"

"So, you're not…?" Light's dad ventured.

"No, Mr. Yagami. Light and I do not have that kind of relationship." L said calmly. "It was in an effort to embarrass him in front of you, no more."

Light's mother smiled. "Light is much too serious for his own good. It's fine, L-kun."

Somewhere in the background, Aki still had Beyond in a terrible position. "Don't worry…" she purred, knowing that this would likely snap the OCD twin. "I'll make it all up to you tonight in bed…"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Beyond screamed like a banshee and was gone in seconds, still screaming, tearing from the room as if Hell itself were after him.

Aki yelled after him, "Wait, baby! We can work it out, I promise!" An even louder scream was the only response, and Aki grinned in satisfaction.

"You're right, L. They're fun to tease."

XXX

"So when is he going to wake up?"

"I don't know, Matt. I think I scared him badly."

"But, he knows we're all vampires! What could be worse than that?" Crunch.

"This, apparently. After, please take the garlic bread somewhere else. I'm going to be ill."

"Fine, fine. Come on, Matt. We'll leave Prince Charming here to deal with Sleeping Beauty."

L sighed as both left the room, leaving him and an unconscious Light, the latter being tucked into his own bed. Déjà-vu to the highest degree. Was it really only two or three weeks ago that he had been sitting here like this, waiting for the teen to wake up so that he could learn the truth about them?

Last he had seen Beyond, carrying Light here from the library, his twin had been curled up in the fetal position on a couch in one of the playrooms. Aisha had been trying to coax him to get up, or at least respond, but hadn't been having much luck. L hoped Light was in better shape than that, simply because if he wasn't, Light's parents would attempt to murder L, likely revealing what he was. And that was a conversation _no one_ needed to have.

"Uhhn…"

L glanced back at Light, who was stirring, a hand over his eyes. "Ugh…" he groaned. "What the heck happened?"

"You passed out again, Light." L said innocently. Light opened his eyes, fixing L with a glare of death.

"It's your fault!" he said accusingly, sitting up to properly face the vampire.

L raised an eyebrow. "I didn't make you pass out."

"Yes, you did!" Light cried. "Acting like you wanted to rape me or something… In front of my parents!!!" He paused, thinking for a second, and then howled, "Oh, dammit, I'm up here with you and they must think something horrible is happening…!"

"I told your parents I was joking." L said, cutting off what was sure to be a very long tirade against his existence. "Your father was relieved, and your mother seemed to think it was very funny."

Light stared at him, unable to say anything in response. There was complete silence, as L waited patiently for him to speak, or yell, or whatever it was he was going to do. Finally, Light managed, "Don't _ever_ do that again, or I _swear_ I will set you on fire."

"I _knew_ I shouldn't have told you how to kill us." L grumbled good-naturedly. "You're my friend, Light, and if you're going to be mad at me, I won't do it again."

"Good!" Light was surprised how easily he gave in, but took it for what it was. "Now, I want to go see my parents. They're leaving tomorrow morning, after all." He got up, brushing past L to go downstairs. L smiled at the 'kick me' sign taped to Light's back. Just because he'd promised not to act gay around him, didn't mean he couldn't do other things.

"Dammit L!"

L smiled. Just as planned.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL'

The most chaotic chapter, and the last of this arc. Next chapter, we take a complete heel-face-turn into seriousness. Kira's back in Winchester, boys and girls. :D

I wanted to update today because tomorrow is the three-year anneversary of my account on this site, and I wanted to thank all of the readers who've kept me going. Not to sound sappy or anything. :)

Enjoy!  
Li


	16. Turning and Missing Persons

Arc Four: The Return  
Chapter 15: Turning and Missing Persons

They had said goodbye to Light's parents and Aki, promising that they could come and visit again soon. Aki had grinned, promising in return that she would talk to her friend Li's father, who ran the circus she lived with, and get him to bring the circus to England some time. Light's parents, after a sappy farewell and best wishes for college, finally departed, and the rest of the house seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Finally, they could act 'normal' again.

Time passed as usual, new people came and went, and things proceeded smoothly. The latest person to come and stay at the house was a man called Mikami, newly turned. He had left the vampire who turned him, wanting to stay at Wammy's and find a better lifestyle. They had welcomed him, as they did with everyone, and he had fit right in.

xXx

It was on one of these lazy days that Light actually went to find L, having thought of a question that the raven-headed vampire hadn't answered yet. He found him on the roof, and carefully climbed out to join him. L looked up curiously, ebony eyes blinking as they settled on Light.

"What is it, Light?" he asked, setting aside the book he was reading. Light couldn't help but roll his eyes. _New Moon_, the second Twilight book.

"Why are you reading that? I thought you didn't like the first one."

"I thought the first one was silly." L corrected. "However, I wanted to see if this was equally silly. Vampires have no central government or anything, and no one is more powerful than any of the others. These 'Volturi' are completely ridiculous."

Light sighed, climbing up to sit next to his friend. L studied his expression intensely for a moment, then said, "You had a question." Statement of fact.

"Yeah." Light said, not bothered by how well L could read him. "When you were telling me about vampires, back when I first found out, you mentioned that you can either be born a vampire or be turned. How exactly does being turned work?"

"And why would you want to know that?" L asked, amused.

Light looked away. "Oh, well, uh, Matt was wondering…"

L smiled. Light was normally a good liar, but when it came to L, the vampire couldn't be fooled. "Whatever you say, Light… Are you sure you are ready to hear the answer?"

"Why not?" Light asked. "It can't be anything too horrible…"

L smiled, the wicked smile that for a brief moment made him appear as the true vampire he was. He reached for Light's hand, turning it over to run one finger along the veins of his wrist. "To become a vampire… is to die." He lifted Light's hand, pressing it to where his heart would be. "Blood flows in our veins, and our heart is still a vital organ, but it does not beat."

Light could feel the truth of his words. There was no heartbeat beneath his palm. L continued to smile. Releasing Light's hand, he continued, "To become a vampire, one of us would have to drink your blood until you rested on the border of life and death. Then you would have to drink our blood, to complete the change from mortal to immortal."

Light shivered, and L moved behind him. "The only unfortunate thing about being turned, is that another death is required as well." he murmured in Light's ear. "The first blood a newborn drinks must be fresh. Alive. Thus another's death is necessary. But it is the only kill one would ever have to make. It simply cannot be allowed to become an addiction."

Light nodded shakily. He trusted L, but having the other hovering near his throat was worrying him, after what he just heard. L seemed to sense that, and moved back to more acceptable boundaries of personal space. "Is that all you wanted to ask?"

Light nodded. "I understand. But what would happen if you weren't to kill someone?"

L paused, looking thoughtful. "It is likely your system would reject the blood, and you would die. For real."

Light stared at him, pondering. One life as payment to live forever? Was it really worth the price? He was silent for a long moment, then asked, "But who… How would you decide who to kill? Just the unlucky person who happens to be out that night?"

L shook his head. "We watch, Light. Between the four of us, we probably know almost everything about everyone in Winchester. So we know who… who would not be missed. We know who is considering suicide. We know when people are going to die anyway. We can't get sick, so we can't catch a terminal illness from someone, after all. Sometimes, it's easier for them than a painful death by a sickness."

Light nodded. "I suppose…"

L frowned. "It's difficult regardless. Watching someone whom you've turned be forced to kill someone… I had to, for Near, and it was one of the most difficult things I've ever done." He glanced down at a black-clad figure making his way up the driveway and sighed. "Oh, for pity's sake…" He rolled his eyes. Noir looked like he was on the warpath over something. L turned back to Light. "Come on. I can't just jump off the roof with him so close. We'll have to go back through the window."

xXx

When they came out the front door, Noir had finally made it to the front steps, and stopped when he saw L.

"You can't tell me that you're not vampires anymore!" he cried, actually looking upset as opposed to challenging. L raised an eyebrow. Noir had never come to them upset before. He had always appeared as the bumbling antagonist to their house, not particularly dangerous and more amusing to mess with than anything. But when he was actually standing before them looking worried, something was definitely wrong.

"What do you mean, Noir?" L asked quietly. "Is something the matter?"

Noir glared at him. "Like you don't know, murderer!"

"Murderer?" Light said, astonished. "No one here has killed anyone."

"Then why are people turning up dead?!" Noir shouted. "Drained of blood? I keep telling people it's vampires and they don't believe me! Why all of a sudden are you hurting people?!"

"Noir, I don't know how to tell you that we're not behind this, because you're so dead-set on what you believe we are." L said patiently. "But I'll get my friends and go look into it tonight."

Noir continued to glare, finally spitting, "Fine! But if I find you, and you are behind this, I will expose you for what you are!"

L rolled his eyes. "Whatever you want to believe, Noir. Would you like a ride back to Winchester?"

"No! I'll walk!" The young vampire hunter stalked away, and L watched him go with apprehension. Another vampire in town, and a hunter at that. It was never good when a hunter came to Winchester and they didn't get to him or her before someone was killed. Usually, they were good at detecting when new vampires showed up, but this time it had gone completely under their radar. Something would have to be done, and soon.

xXx

They scoured Winchester all night. After, Aisha, Beyond, and L each took a different section of the town, checking for any traces of vampiric activity, and being careful not to be seen in case Noir was lurking around. Light had wanted to come, but they had refused. If there was a killer vampire running riot in Winchester, the last thing they were going to do was put their human friend right in his or her path.

They regrouped near morning, having found nothing, and made their way back to the house. When they opened the front doors, they found many people milling around, all looking worried and uncertain.

"What happened?" L demanded, walking forward quickly.

Grace, one of the female vampires, came over to L, saying quietly, "Watari's office. He told me to get you when you came back. The rest of you can go as well, but he specifically asked for L."

L was already gone by the time she finished the sentence.

xXx

He found Light and Mello in Watari's office. Mello was silent, something odd in and of itself, sitting next to Light with a blank expression. Light looked up, his eyes thankful that L was finally back. L looked to Watari, mustering up the courage to ask, "What happened?"

Watari looked grim. "There was a break-in earlier." he said quietly. "Someone on the inside let them in, allowing them past the security system."

"Do we know who?" L asked.

"Yes. Mikami, the man who arrived just the other day." Watari said. "There was a note left, for you, L." He held out a folded paper, and L took it hesitantly. Unfolding it, he read in neat script:

_L,_

_Your little vampire hunter is an excellent distraction. All of you out here looking for me leaves Wammy's wonderfully undefended. We'll see how you like it when the things you treasure are taken away from you._

L looked up, his eyes wide. "What did they take?" he asked hollowly.

Watari glanced at Light, who looped an arm around Mello's shoulders and looked L in the eyes.

"They took… Matt and Near."

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Yah. Happy Valentines Day, everyone!

...Not much to say, here. Enjoy!

Li


	17. A Thief in the Night

Chapter 16: A Thief in the Night

It hadn't been hard. Mikami had been watching for when L and his friends left the house. His creator had been right. All it had taken was a few well-placed kills, and the little hunter had run right to them, drawing them away and leaving their house pathetically unprotected. Some of the others had even gone out to search the surrounding area, leaving even fewer vampires than normal around.

It had been almost painfully easy to walk to the front door and open it for Misa. The blonde girl had come in with explicit instructions from Kira. Take only the children, and get out.

Tracking down Near was simple. He was where he always was: in a playroom on the second floor. Matt and Mello were in Matt's room, playing Mario Kart. They snuck up on Near, knocking him unconscious. Misa scooped up the young vampire, and they went after the other two quickly.

Matt had been simple to take out. A tap on the head, and he was out cold. Mello, on the other hand, fought and kicked and punched and bit and _screamed_, finally bringing those who remained in the house down on the two would-be kidnappers. Deciding that it would be in their best interests to leave with two out of three, Mikami and Misa made their escape, leaving a somewhat traumatized Mello to explain what had happened.

Kira had been disappointed initially, but upon learning that the two they _had_ managed to get were L's fledgling and the human child that L was protecting, he was thrilled. L would be furious! This would definitely be enough to lure him out of Wammy's and into Kira's waiting trap.

Near and Matt had been bound, Matt in handcuffs, and Near tied up in such a way that the angle didn't let him break free of his restraints. Vampires were powerful, and Near was no exception, but strength meant nothing if one didn't have the leverage to use it.

Near glared at the vampire standing across the room, who was smirking. Misa and Mikami had gone to feed, leaving Kira to watch over his captives on his own. Matt was silent, afraid to speak, knowing what might lie in wait for him if he did.

"We won't be here for long." Near said to him. "L's going to destroy him, and we'll go home." Matt nodded, but Kira laughed in the background, coming over to the worn sofa where they were sitting. He smiled wickedly, leaning down and running his fingers softly over Near's cheek.

"There's no one coming to save you, little one." he murmured silkily.

Near flinched. "L's coming…" he said, trying to sound brave. "They'll come get us."

A low chuckle escaped Kira, the elder vampire smirking. "If he does come, we will be waiting for him." A knife appeared under Near's chin. "What would he say to finding his precious fledgling dead?" The knife disappeared as quickly as it had come, and Kira stepped over in a too-fast-to-see movement and tilted Matt's head up to look him in the eye. "Or to finding his little human dead… or turned?"

"Leave him alone!" Near cried, sounding braver than he felt.

Kira turned and smiled at him, walking back over slowly. "But killing either of you seems like such a waste…" he murmured. He pressed Near back against the couch and tilted his head up. Near shivered as lips touched his throat. Kira chuckled. "I wonder, do you taste as sweet as the things L favors? I'm sure he wouldn't have turned you otherwise…"

Near sat frozen, unable to say anything. Kira stepped back, a satisfied smirk on his face, and left the room.

Matt tugged at the chain attaching his handcuffs to the wall. "Near, what should we do?" He looked up, and saw that the younger was staring off into space. "Near? C'mon, Near, we have to figure out how to get out of here."

Near shook his head, turning to face Matt. "Sorry. It's just, L was right. He really does resemble Light. His hair is longer and his eyes are red, but underneath that…"

Matt shook his head. "We can't think about that…" He looked around the small, bare room, before saying quietly, "They will come after us… right?"

"Yeah." Near said. "L won't leave us here. I know he won't."

xXx

L spent most of the day and the entire night in Winchester, two days in a row, looking for any sign of where Kira could be hiding. Three more people died, and both L and Noir ended up in an unlikely partnership, each searching for any clue, any sign, any mistake Kira might have made.

When L stumbled in the next morning, Light had just gotten up, and was eating breakfast in the kitchen. L sat down after retrieving a bottle of Kool-Aid from the fridge, looking even more disheveled than he usually did, and sighed.

"You're back late…" Light said worriedly. "Or early, depending on how you want to look at it." He eyed the Kool-Aid. He had learned early on not to go near it. Blood diluted with water with sugar added was not something he wanted anywhere near him.

"I had to take Noir home. The silly child kept going until he passed out." L murmured. "There's nothing out there. No hints, no nothing. We're not going to find him unless he wants to be found, and I shudder to think what he could have done by then…" He leaned forward, resting his arms and head on his knees. "We can't stop him from killing innocents unless we find him."

"We'll get him." Light said. "Why would he take Matt and Near if he wasn't going to try and use them to hurt us? If he has a trap waiting, he'll have to lure us there at some point. And then we'll have him."

L looked up and smiled wryly. "Light-kun seems to have forgotten the nature of traps. How can we 'have him' if we've walked into a trap?"

"You know what I mean!" Light sighed. He picked at his scrambled eggs for a moment, then said, "Kira really hates you, but why?"

"He blames me for being driven away, because the house stood behind me instead of him." L said. "He thinks his ideals are right, and no one else's." His eyes were hazy, half-hidden behind drooping lids.

"When was the last time you slept?" Light asked.

"About three weeks ago…" L murmured.

Light sighed. "You should go sleep, L. You'll need energy if you're going to confront…" His lips quirked into a small smile as he saw that L had gone to sleep in his chair. Standing up, he walked over and picked L up. The vampire wasn't heavy; what they called 'midnight gravity' prevented that. "Guess it's my turn to look after you, huh?" He took L up to his room, tucking the vampire in and smiling to himself before going back downstairs to finish his breakfast. There was a novel he had to read for college over break, and he hadn't started yet. He had to buy the book first. He was going out to Winchester later to go to the bookstore. He didn't know how long L was going to sleep, but he hoped he could get back before the other awoke. L had been overprotective since they had first heard of Kira's return. He was convinced it wasn't safe for Light to wander Winchester alone. But Light was sure everything would be fine.

Kira wouldn't attack him in broad daylight, right?

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Of course not, Light... Of course not... :D

Not much time, so I'll just say enjoy!  
Li


	18. Light and Noir

Chapter 17: Light and Noir

"Another human in the house?" Kira asked, his eyes glinting dangerously.

Mikami nodded. "His name is Light, and he bears a striking resemblance to you, Lord Kira. I only saw him around a few times, but he is good friends with L and his group. He knows about vampires, and it doesn't bother him."

Kira laughed. "Too perfect!" He smiled wickedly, saying then, "Mikami, go and drop a few hints to our whereabouts around town, and see if we can lure this 'Light' here to our web. It will be too fun to hurt L this way…"

Mikami bowed and left the room, and Kira looked over at his young captives. Near was glaring at him with intense hatred.

"Light's too smart to fall for that!" he cried. "You can't trick him!"

"I'm not trying to trick him." Kira said silkily. "I'm betting on his compassion; his desire to rescue you and keep his friends out of danger. If he does come himself in a misguided attempt to protect L from me, we will have him."

xXx

Light had gone to Watari, to ask to borrow the car that belonged to the Wammy's House. There was only one car, since Watari was really the only one who needed to drive anywhere. The vampires in the house just ran wherever they needed to. Watari had been perfectly willing to lend Light the car, and now the college student was parked outside of a bookstore in Winchester, so that Light could get the book he needed for his college assignments.

"Here it is… _The Darkness Eternal: European Horror Myths Through the Ages_…"

Light blinked. He flipped the book open, looking at the first couple of pages listing the chapters. "Oh, for pity's sake. Is this what a literature-history course teaches? Mythology? And not just mythology, but werewolves and vampires and stuff?" This was going to be the most obnoxious class Light had ever had to sit through. It was going to be a pain to sit through a bunch of information that he now knew was wrong. "I wonder if it's too late to drop the class…"

He walked back outside, sitting down on a bench and flipping through the book. The European myths on vampires were typical: sunlight, crosses, garlic, holy water… Completely wrong. He shut the book, pondering calling the college and asking them to cancel his place in the class. He could probably learn everything he needed to on that subject from Wammy's House anyway.

"Light!"

Light looked up, seeing Noir running towards him. "You're Light, right? L's friend?"

Light nodded, wondering what the boy could want. Noir stopped, panting for a second before blurting, "I think I know where they are! This guy was going into one of the abandoned buildings on the edge of town, and he looked like one of the people L told me to watch for!"

Light tensed. "Are you sure?"

"Positive! I followed him all the way there! He's the same guy!" Noir looked worried. "You aren't going to let them kill any more people, right?"

Light was silent for a long moment, then said, "No. Tell me where they are." Noir gave him directions to the building, and Light got up, tossing the book into the backseat of his car. "Do you have a weapon? I need to borrow it."

Noir pulled out a knife he had been keeping in his belt. "L told me to carry it. It's really vampires, isn't it?"

Light took the knife, grinning. "Who said that?" He turned back to the car, saying only, "Go to the house and get L. I don't care if he's asleep. Tell him where I've gone, and tell him to follow as soon as possible." He got in the car and headed in the direction Noir had told him, leaving the teenager to stare after him in astonishment. He stood there for a few moments, then turned to run in the direction of Wammy's House.

xXx

Light drove fast, pushing the speed limit as much as he dared, getting closer to the outskirts of town where Noir had said Kira was hiding. Somewhere, his common sense was telling him that he needed to wait for L, but worry for Matt and Near, as well as what might happen if L did have to confront Kira, kept him moving towards the building.

He parked a block or so away from the exact building that Noir had described, walking the rest of the way so that the noise of the car wouldn't give him away. He knew that he couldn't be nearly quiet enough to evade vampire hearing, but every little bit helped. When he reached the front of the building, he saw Mikami coming out of the door. The vampire hadn't seen him yet, and Light froze. He was out in the open, and there was nothing he could hide behind near him. Mikami looked up, dark blue eyes meeting astonished amber, and both simply stared at each other for a long moment.

"How did you find this place?" Mikami demanded.

Light didn't answer, pulling out the knife and holding it in front of him defensively. Mikami took a few steps forward, standing perfectly still, and then moved. Almost immediately, he was behind Light, lunging to grab him. Light dodged, rolling to the side and back to his feet, putting his back to a wooden fence that was the barrier between there and the next building over.

"You're fast, boy." Mikami said, his eyes glowing faintly. "But not as fast as one of us." He moved again, almost too fast for Light to see, but long hours playing tennis with L had honed his reflexes to pretty much as good as they could be, without becoming a vampire. Light dodged again, slashing the older man across the arm as he went by. Mikami growled, sounding feral, and tackled the college student, pinning him to the ground. Light struggled, and Mikami's hands wrapped around his throat. "L made a mistake, sending you instead of coming himself. You're not worth Lord Kira's time."

"Didn't… send… me…" Light wheezed. He swung the knife, sinking it into Mikami's heart, and the vampire laughed.

"Staking us through the heart doesn't work, Light! You should know that!" He laughed maniacally, moving his hands to pin Light's shoulders and bending towards his neck. His laugh abruptly cut off, though, and he coughed violently. Light had twisted the knife almost all the way around, completely destroying whatever heart the new vampire had possessed. Mikami twitched, crumpling sideways off of Light, and was still. Light watched in shocked amazement as his body crumbled into dust, blowing away in the light breeze as if the man had never been there.

L had told him that simply staking them in the heart wouldn't work. It would knock them unconscious for a while if left in long enough, but as soon as the stake was removed their healing abilities would kick in. But if the knife was twisted, destroying the heart completely, there was no healing gift in the world that could save them.

Light glanced up at the building, looming large in front of him. He had won the right to enter, or so it seemed, but Kira and Misa still lurked somewhere inside. Picking up the knife from where it had fallen when Mikami collapsed, he got up, making his way over to the door and going inside.

xXx

Watari was sitting very calmly in the living room just off the entrance hall, reading the paper, when Noir tore through the doors, looking as if hell himself were after him.

"Noir?" he questioned. He knew that the young 'vampire hunter', came to the house often enough looking for 'evidence', but this was different. This time, he seemed worried.

"Where's L?" Noir asked frantically, stopping at the bottom of the stairs to look at Watari with wide eyes.

Watari stared at him for a long moment, trying to judge his intentions, and then said, "In his room. Fourth floor, fourth room down the hall."

Noir nodded hurriedly. "Thank you!" He raced up the stairs, and Watari wondered just what they had gotten themselves into this time.

xXx

Noir ran all the way upstairs to L's room, banging the door open violently. The vampire was asleep, one arm loosely draped over his stomach. Noir raced over and shook him until he woke up.

"Noir!" L grumbled sleepily. "What the hell are you doing in my room, waking me up?!"

"I figured out where the guys committing the murders are hiding, the ones who took your kids!" Noir cried. L sat up, suddenly alert and ready to listen. Noir explained the details of where the building was, and L leaped out of bed.

"Go to the next room over, get Light, and tell him that I'm going to get the children back. Tell him that I said to _stay put_, no matter what!"

"Uh… L?"

"What?"

Noir flinched. "I ran into Light in Winchester. He's the one who sent me to get you."

"Light went to Winchester alone? I told him not to go until we were sure it was safe! Where is he now?" L demanded.

"He was heading for the building…" Noir said, shrinking beneath the ferocity of the look on L's face.

"That absolute _idiot_…!" L fumed. "Noir, go home and _stay there._ Do not go out for any reason. This is my problem. I'll get Light and the children back." He dashed out of the room, leaving a moderately unnerved Noir to slink back downstairs a few minutes later. Maybe L wasn't a vampire at all. Maybe he was just frightening in general…

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Poor Noir. Don't shoot the messenger, L-kun…

So, Light's an idiot, but he's an idiot who knows enough to take on vampires. And because of his stupidity, we get L to the rescue, after all! I'm sorry that this chapter is so late. Every Saturday from now until April is busy, so everything depends on when I can sneak to the library during the week. Ugh…

Enjoy!  
Li


	19. Kira's Gambit

Chapter 18: Kira's Gambit

Near and Matt had been alone in the room for a long time, not really talking, each contemplating what it would mean if L couldn't find them. Or, though neither dared to think it, what would happen if L fought Kira and lost.

Near, who had never known his actual parents, looked on L as really the closest thing to family that he had. He worried that Kira was going to take L away from them. Even though he hadn't gotten the chance to know Roger very well, he remembered the day that Kira killed him. He didn't want that to happen to L too.

Matt, who had known his mother, only knew that L was his friend, the one who had taken him in when he'd been roaming the streets. He didn't want anything to happen to the older vampire either.

Both of them looked up as the doorknob turned, and a figure with auburn hair walked into the room. They tensed immediately, thinking that Kira had returned to taunt them further. But the figure in the doorway smiled brilliantly, shutting the door behind him and hurrying over. "Near! Matt!"

"Light!" They could have cried, they were so happy to see him. Light untied Near as quickly as he could, and Near reached over and snapped Matt's handcuffs.

"Where's L?" Near asked, as Matt rubbed his wrists.

"He's on the way." Light said. "We have to hurry, there's no way of knowing when Kira will come back." He didn't want to have to face the other vampire unless he had to. It would be better to just get in and out quickly, without attracting attention, preferably before L arrived.

Matt reached out for Light's hand, grabbing on tightly, and they headed for the door. But it opened before they got there, and a blonde girl bounced in, giving Light a kiss on the cheek.

"Kira! Misa is back from hunting, and Mikami's gone! I can't find him anywhere!"

Light took a deep breath, forcing his tensed muscles to relax. "That's unfortunate, Misa. I'm sure he'll turn up eventually." This must be the girl that L had told him about, the one in love with Kira. He could fake his way through this. The bubbly girl didn't sound all that smart, and she had already mistaken him for the real Kira.

"You've cut your hair!" Misa said absently, reaching up to brush his bangs aside. Light didn't meet her eyes. He might look like Kira, but he wasn't sure if their eyes were the same color. Misa glanced to Matt, who was clinging to his hand, and Near, who was hovering behind him, and asked, "What are you doing with them?"

"I'm releasing them." Light said calmly. "This plan isn't going to work. L obviously isn't coming."

"So kill one of them, and leave them for him to find!" Misa exclaimed. "That should inspire him to look for us!" She smiled brilliantly, hugging Light's free arm. "Maybe the human? I'm sure L would come running if he thought that his fledgling would die next!"

Light felt Matt grip his hand tighter, afraid. He glanced at Misa, who said cheerfully, "Or we could kidnap that Light kid and kill _him_. Remember that idea?"

"I remember." Light said. "I don't think that it's a good idea." He squeezed Matt's hand back, a silent promise to get them out safely.

"I'm sure you don't."

Misa flinched, letting go of Light's arm. She turned with wide eyes to the auburn-haired vampire now standing in the doorway, and said frantically, apologetically, "Kira, I'm sorry! He tricked me!"

"It's fine, Misa." Kira said calmly, used to the blonde girl's actions. "Mikami is dead. I would ask you to watch the doors, to see to any other guests who might show up." Misa nodded earnestly, darting out of the room, and Kira smiled at Light. "Mikami was not lying, it seems. The resemblance is uncanny." Crimson eyes flashed beneath long bangs, the color of blood. Light found himself astonished by how different the color was than Beyond's ruby gaze.

He moved automatically, stepping back and pushing Matt and Near behind him. "You're terrible." he said, not caring if what he said provoked Kira. "Kidnapping children, all for this stupid reason? From what I understand, you threatened the entire house. They had every right to drive you out."

"Their ideals are foolish, and I was sick of them!" Kira growled. "We were put on this earth to be better than humans; to be _their_ predators in a world where they prey on everything else." He smiled wickedly, continuing, "And I will prove to L that I am better than him, dominant over him… Because L is weak."

"He's stronger than you!" Matt yelled suddenly.

"L's weakness is that he would do anything for the people he cares about." Kira said. "If I control L's weaknesses, I control L. Light, you walked right into this trap, without me even planning it like that." He paused, chuckling slightly. "Yes, L would do anything for his friends. Even walk to his death."

"I won't let you! You won't get near him!" Light took a step back from the vampire, pushing Near and Matt behind him. He wasn't sure what he could do to stop Kira by himself, but he had to protect the children. For L.

Kira smirked. "Come now, Light. What could you possibly hope to do against me? You're only human."

Light flinched, hearing L's voice from the night on the rooftop, _Roger was only human…_ The split-second that his attention wasn't on Kira, the vampire moved, shoving him harshly so that he stumbled away from Matt and Near. Kira stopped in front of him, catching him, wrapping an arm around his waist and using his other hand to pull the teen's head back.

"It would be _much more entertaining_ to see how L would react to _you_ being turned." Kira hissed, whispering against his throat. Points skimmed, searching, finding his pulse point, and the vampire chuckled. "We'll just have to see, won't we?" And he bit down.

Light cried out, struggling but to no avail. Kira hummed contentedly, and Light could feel nothing but a burning sensation radiating from the wound at his neck. The vampire was going to kill him, he was convinced. Suddenly, something slammed into Kira with incredible force, knocking away his hold on Light. Light fell to his knees, touching his neck and staring at the blood on his fingers before looking up. L was standing between him and the other vampire, his back to Light, but somehow Light could still feel the hatred radiating off of him.

"Get the hell away from him." L hissed venomously. "He's _mine_. I won't let you do anything to him!"

Kira laughed. "So, L, you did come!" he said happily. "I was hoping you would. You wouldn't leave your fledgling or your friends to die!"

"What do you want?" L asked, his glare sharp enough to cut glass.

"To prove to you that I was right, and you were wrong." Kira said. He gestured to Light and Matt. "Look how much trouble they've been! If you didn't get attached, they wouldn't be your weakness."

"You murdered Roger!" L shouted. "Unprovoked, you killed him! Don't speak to me of weakness. Caring means I have a soul, as surely you do not!"

"Is it murder when human beings kill animals for their food?" Kira asked, his expression twisting into a sinister smile. "You cannot pin me on this, L. You've killed people. You let your precious fledgling kill someone, or he wouldn't be a vampire now."

"You kill indiscriminately." L said, suddenly calm. "We look for those who are deathly sick, those who suffer. And we relieve that suffering, if necessary. You kill whoever is unlucky enough to be in your way, regardless of if they have a family, friends, or a life beyond what you see." He dropped into a defensive stance, saying firmly, "You're a menace to this town. You're a menace to the house that we keep safe for our kind. You didn't listen when we drove you away once. You don't deserve immortal life."

"Will you kill me, L?" Kira laughed.

"Yes. Yes, I will." L leaped at him, catching him unprepared and tackling him to the floor. Kira recovered quickly, grappling with the raven-haired boy, each trying to throw the other off balance. L appeared to be winning, one hand twisted into auburn hair as if he was just going to rip Kira's head off with his bare hands. But suddenly he leaped back, a gash across his arm. Kira got to his feet, a knife clutched in one hand, and Matt flinched from his place behind Light.

L dodged as Kira came at him with the knife, displaying acrobatics that Light hadn't known he was capable of. He pulled his own knife from a pocket somewhere, deflecting Kira's blade with his own and attempting to kick him in the stomach. Kira freed the knife from the lock L put it in and slashed again, catching L open and gashing his knee and his shoulder. L dropped back, blood dripping from his wounds, frowning. The ones in his shoulder and knee weren't deep, but the one on his arm bled freely.

Light let go of Matt's hand, pulling out the knife he had taken from Noir. Kira lashed out at L again, and Light saw his opportunity. He ran forward while the vampire was distracted and plunged the knife into his back, where his heart would be. He went to twist it, but Kira growled furiously and threw him off, reaching around and yanking the knife out.

"Stupid human!" he shouted. He made as if to go after Light, but was stopped by L grabbing his arm and holding on grim death, swinging the knife blindly. He caught the red-eyed vampire where neck met shoulder, and Kira turned on him, blood pouring from the wound. But L darted forward, stabbing the knife through his heart and twisting it violently.

"Die." he hissed. Kira gasped, trying to speak but only managing to make raspy sounds. He blindly clawed in L's direction, but collapsed to the floor trying. L watched his body dissolve to dust, then dropped to his knees, one hand going up to press the gash on his arm. He tore the sleeve of his shirt, binding the wound until his healing abilities kicked in, and turned to look around the room. Light stood there, his shirt splattered with blood but looking no worse for wear. The punctures at his neck had begun to clot, and he grinned at L.

L looked over at the children next. Both ran forward to hug him tightly. Light smiled at the scene, walking over, but Near hissed suddenly and L grabbed him.

"Near hasn't fed in three days. And I'm sorry, Light, but you're very appetizing when you've been bleeding."

Light felt Matt grab his hand, and stepped backwards. "Yeah. What do we do now? Go back to the car?"

L nodded. "We need to get back to the house. Near needs to feed, and I do too. That cut on my arm bled far too much." He swept Near into his arms and followed Light to the door.

They made it back to the car, and L sat with Near in the back, while Matt rode up front with Light. The teenager floored it back to the house, worried for his friends.

xXx

About a month ago, if Light had been subjected to the sight of Near or L drinking blood, he would have run far away and never come back. Now, watching Near bite into one of the plastic pouches from the blood bank, he was only worried for the young vampire.

L tossed his own empty pouch into the trash can, looking around. Aisha, After, Beyond, and Watari were waiting patiently to hear what had happened. L sighed, finally saying quietly, "Kira is dead. We killed him."

He told the whole story, and Light filled in the parts that L could not. When they were finished, Light asked curiously, "But what did you do to Misa?"

"I locked her in a closet." L said, smiling faintly. "I do not know what happened to her after that."

Beyond walked around the table, ruffling Near's hair fondly before cuffing L in the head. "Don't ever do that again!" he shouted, glaring at his twin. "Don't run off after a murderer without at least telling us where you're going or what's going on!"

L ducked his head apologetically. "Sorry."

Aisha hugged him. "No harm done, L. Kira's gone, and you're all safe. That's all that really matters."

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I'm SO SORRY!!! The past two weeks have been so chaotic... We're at Winterguard Championships this weekend, so I'm shocked I got time to post at all. O.o

…I fear that I suck at fight scenes. :( But, at least everyone is okay! There will be a fifth arc, just for the epilogue. The epilogue is two chapters, and both will be put up at the same time. So, one more update for this, and then I'm done! (happy dance)

I hope you all liked this chapter!  
Li


	20. Immortal

Arc Five: An Epilogue of Epic Proportions  
Chapter 19: Immortal

The day after they made their escape from Kira's clutches, Misa turned up on the steps of the house. Her make-up was smeared from crying, and she dropped to her knees at L's feet.

"I'm so sorry." she whispered. "I see, now, I was wrong. We shouldn't have gone after children… We shouldn't have threatened your friends. You took me in a long time ago, and I betrayed all of you."

"Are you looking to return here?" L asked calmly.

"No." Misa replied. "I can't ask that of you. I'm going to find my own way, make my own deals, and live my own life. I'm sorry, for everything." She turned to leave, and L stepped forward.

"I forgive you." he said quietly. Misa turned, smiling at him thankfully, and dashed away in the opposite direction of Winchester. Light glanced over at the vampire curiously.

"Is that okay? I mean, she…"

"It's fine." L said. "My quarrel was with Kira, not with her. If she wants to find a new life, that's her business."

Light smiled, patting L on the shoulder. "You're a good person." He walked away, and L blinked after him. What?

xXx

Noir turned up the day after that, demanding to know what had happened.

"It was vampires! I know it was! You can't lie to me anymore!" he shouted, raising a racket in the front hall. Light rolled his eyes, glancing up the stairs where After and Beyond were holding damage control. Some of the newest residents of their house were all in favor of getting rid of the little human who knew too much. But they were being successfully talked out of it, leaving Light to deal with Noir.

"Noir, what makes you think that it's vampires? It was a lunatic former friend of L's, out for revenge. He kidnapped some people, but we got them back and he's dead. What's the problem?"

Noir frowned. "The attacks on the other people! All of them looked like vampire attacks!" He glared at Light. "You might not be a vampire, but you're protecting them!"

"Even if, and it's very unlikely, Kira were a vampire, how does that make L and the others here vampires?" Light asked, pleased when Noir looked confused.

"Well, they…" He floundered for a moment, looking for what he was trying to say. "If they know vampires…"

"But they didn't know that Kira was a vampire. If he was in the first place." Light said patiently. Noir fought for words, settled for glaring at him, and stormed from the house. Light breathed a sigh of relief. They hadn't gotten him off of his vampire notion, but he wouldn't come back until he had a better theory. That was good enough for the moment.

xXx

Light went to seek out L, who was reading on the roof again. Light climbed up next to him, saying casually, "Got Noir to leave. I think I've put him off our tails for the moment." He leaned over, trying to see the cover of L's book. "What are you reading?"

L held it up, revealing a pirate ship on the cover. "_Vampirates_. Quite possibly the worst play-on-words I have ever heard in my entire life, but the book is actually really good. They still have the myths about sunlight, but their ship is like our house. It's a refuge for vampires who don't want to be killers. They have living donors, but obviously it's hard to find a blood bank in the middle of the ocean."

Light blinked, then looked away. "I'm glad you finally found a vampire book that you liked."

L looked up, confused by his tone. "Light, what is it?"

Light met his eyes, and said quietly, "L, I want…" But he found himself unable to finish the sentence. L leaned closer.

"Light, no. Think about what you're saying." He had figured out what Light was trying to ask, and was hesitant to follow through with his request.

"I _have_ thought about it!" Light said. "And I know that I don't want to stay here, getting older and watching all of you stay the same! You're the only real friends that I've ever had!"

L's expression softened. He brushed auburn hair back from Light's eyes, smiling faintly.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" he asked, fingertips trailing over Light's cheek to rest on the artery just beneath his ear.

"Yeah." Light said quietly. "You guys are too important to me. I've never had real, true friends before, and I want it to stay that way. Even if that means becoming like you."

"You cannot go back if you make this decision." L said, sliding his hand down to cradle the back of Light's neck.

"I know." Light replied, leaning into the touch. "My family will find out eventually, but I'm sure it will be okay. After all, they were ready to accept that I was gay. Vampire isn't so far a leap, is it?" He chuckled to himself.

L smiled in return. "I… am reluctant to do this. I should talk to Watari…"

"I did." Light said. "He said that it was my decision, and yours."

L sighed. "You helped me save Near. I really can't refuse you this…" He paused. "…I'll keep it from hurting. There's a way to ensure that you'll feel nothing." he promised, moving closer.

"That makes sense." Light said, understanding. "But Kira didn't…"

"Kira liked his prey to struggle and fight and hurt. I do not." L said firmly. He wrapped his arm around Light's waist, leaning forward and whispering, "Relax…"

Light felt his muscles slacken with no conscious effort on his part. He wound up cradled in L's arms, and the vampire tipped Light's head back to rest on his shoulder. Lips searched, finding his jugular and pausing before sharp fangs slid effortlessly into the skin.

A breathy gasp was the only sound that Light made. If he didn't know better, if he didn't have personal experience that said this was supposed to hurt, he would say that it actually felt _good_ to have L drawing his blood.

L drank carefully, purposefully, making sure not to lose himself. When he finally felt that he had taken enough, he pulled away and lifted his own wrist to his lips, biting to create two punctures. "Liiiight. Don't go to sleep on me." he said softly, nudging him. Light mumbled incoherently in reply, and L smiled. "Here, drink this. You'll feel better…" He lifted his bleeding wrist to Light's lips, letting the teen drink a few mouthfuls of his blood.

Light slumped into L's hold, and the vampire watched the small punctures in his wrist seal themselves. Light would sleep for a while, and when he woke, he would have turned. He smiled to himself. "Three." It was the third time Light had fallen unconscious in his arms. This time, however, it was by his own choice; a decidedly better situation. He lifted the auburn-haired boy into a sturdy hold, and walked back down to duck back in the window. No good to leave him sleeping on the roof.

xXx

When Light awoke, he felt… weightless. It was incredible. There was a minor feeling, like a faint burning in the back of his throat, but he ignored that, focusing on the lightness coursing through him. A vampire… it was incredible.

He ventured from the room, bumping into walls a few times on his way downstairs, unused to the speed he could go just by walking. Time had passed while he had been unconscious, and it was dark outside. He was startled, yet again, as he remembered that he didn't have to sleep, much, anymore.

He found L in the kitchen with Watari, talking quietly. He could hear them from the bottom of the stairs in the front hall, and when L looked up, he smiled, amused.

"You'll get used to it, I promise." he chuckled.

Light smiled faintly. "Everything is so loud."

"That's why vampires are so quiet. Otherwise we would deafen each other." L laughed. Watari rolled his eyes in the background. L looked up, his outer-space eyes expressing happiness, but wariness as well. "Light, you have to go feed."

Light blinked. _That_ was the part that he had forgotten. L noticed his expression and got up from his seat at the table. He offered his hand, saying calmly, "Come on, I'm going with you."

xXx

They ran the road to Winchester, L still holding Light's hand. As he explained, this time Light was still adjusting to being a vampire, and it wouldn't do to have him run face-first into a tree or something. L led him into the town, to the rooftops, and from there they continued on.

They stopped on the edge of a grocery store, which was closed for the night. L pointed to the alley between the grocery store and the next building over, where a homeless man was huddled. L pointed silently, and Light blinked.

"Him?"

"He has no home, no living relatives, and will die of starvation in a few days if no one helps him. He has been on the streets for three months, and no one has helped so far." L said quietly. He glanced over, seeing the hesitation in Light's eyes, and said, "At this point, Light, it's his life or yours. The blood that I gave you will wreak havoc on your system if you don't finish the transformation. You can't sit at half-and-half."

"What do I have to do?" Light asked. "How do I keep it from being painful?"

L glanced back down into the alley. "You have enough experience, from both Kira and I, to know what being bitten is like." he murmured. "As for the issue of pain, we possess a limited hypnosis. There's no real way to explain how to do it, but you will know if you get it right."

Light frowned. "All right…" L watched as the teen slipped off the roof, walking into the alley and kneeling to talk to the man. Light had finesse; that was for sure. L saw a glazed look come over the man's eyes and smiled. It seemed that the hypnosis wasn't going to be a problem. He observed quietly as Light bit the man, and prepared to leap off the roof after the teen. This was the hardest part, after all.

Light recoiled with a wail, wrapping his arms around himself. "It burns!"

L jumped down, grabbing him and forcing him to sit against the wall. "Your blood has to finish changing. It will get better in a minute. Shh…" He left for a minute or two to get rid of the body, and when he came back, Light was still hunched into a ball. "Come on, Light. If Near can handle it, you can too."

At being compared to a nine-year-old child, Light forced himself to his feet. "It's not that bad. Come on. Let's go home." He took three steps and staggered, and L helped him stay upright.

"Whatever you say, Light. Whatever you say."

xXx

They got back to the house, and L told him to go rest.

"I'm going to go call Aki. You sleep. It will take a few hours for your body to adjust to the change. We're having spaghetti for dinner."

L left him in his room, and Light flopped down in bed, staring at the ceiling. He didn't regret choosing to become a vampire. One life exchanged for living forever. He would never have to kill anyone else ever again if he didn't want to. It… was entirely worth it. There was still his family to deal with, but he would worry about that when the time came. For now…

He was happy.

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Yay. :D

All the books that L reads are real books. What he says about this one, though, is my reaction, word-for-word. "That's the worst play on words I've ever heard in my entire life." It is an excellent book, though.

So everyone who complained about Light not getting turned... What were you worried about, again? The only ones still human now are Watari and Matt. And I didn't get to bring it up in the actual chapter, but they denied Matt being turned. They refuse to turn him, at least until Mello's blood matures, since they're the same age.

BTW, if you've never heard the song "Immortal" by The Rasmus, go listen to it. It's EPIC.

One more...  
Li


	21. Sanctuaries on Two Sides of the World

Chapter 20: Sanctuaries on Two Sides of the World

L wandered into the library, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket as he went. The only other person in the library was Beyond, who was curled in a chair in a cat-like fashion, doing a Rubik's cube.

"Light's one of us?" he asked, taking his eyes off the brightly-colored cube for a few moments.

"Yeah." L replied. He opened the cell phone, looking through his contacts for the number he had saved about a week ago.

"Aki?" Beyond asked. "Is this about what Kimi said?" Kimi was a vampire who had come to them recently after travelling from Japan. She had come bearing disturbing rumors that coincided far too well with what others were saying.

"Yes. I feel that we need to tell her what we know. Her circus is like our house, so they need to be on the lookout if these rumors prove true. They could be in danger."

"Hell, L. We could be in danger. We fit the supposed age range, after all." Beyond grumped. "Have you told Light, yet?"

L shook his head. "He has enough to deal with getting used to being a vampire. I will tell him after the shock wears off." He pressed 'send', holding the phone to his ear between two fingers. He got Aki's voice mail and sighed, pressing the button to leave a message.

"Moshi moshi, Aki-chan. It's L." He didn't want to go right into the doom and gloom news, so he said, "We're all doing well here at the house. Beyond misses y-"

"NO I DO NOT!"

L paused for a moment. "You know he does. Anyway, I have something important to tell you. I've been hearing rumors from some of the vampires here. For the past few months, vampires have been going missing…"

xXx

When he finally hung up, Beyond was finished with the Rubik's cube.

"Now what?" the red-eyed twin asked.

L sighed. "Now we wait and see what happens. Aki will call me back eventually, and we'll see what she has to say."

"Let me know if you hear back from her. I'm going into Winchester with Aisha." At L's surprised look, Beyond laughed. "I finally told her I liked her! She said that she already knew, but that's fine. She likes me back!"

"You weren't exactly subtle about liking her in the first place, B." L chuckled. "But good for you. Have fun." He watched as Beyond scurried from the room, and laughed to himself. He was happy for his brother, but inside a knot of worry was coiling in his stomach. Everything that was happening now… They would just have to wait and see where things took them.

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I know what you all are thinking: Sequel!

Let's just get this out of the way now. I am not writing a sequel.

_I_ am not writing a sequel, but Aki is. :D Aki-chan is investigating these mysterious disappearances that seem to have L so worried. Rest assured, we're not leaving Wammy's altogether, but this is just another story in my vampire-verse. (She's writing fanfiction for my fanfiction. Technically. XD)

…Honestly? I don't even know what she's planning. She won't tell me. I get it to edit, one chapter at a time. :) (rolls eyes)

I hope you all enjoyed this comedy/drama-fest! Thank you for reading! Go check out Aki's story when it is put up, and I'll see you all again soon!

Hugs, cake, and jam (blood?)!  
Li


	22. Readers, Do You Know?

Hello, people! (waves enthusiastically)

So I promised a note when Aki-chan finally got her story up, and I am happy to say that it's UP! (happy dance) It's called "Sleepless Beauty", so go check it out!

On another note, it was brought to my attention that this story is still not labeled 'complete'. I'm going to leave it that way, because after thinking about it, I realized that it wasn't going to die anytime soon. This universe grabbed hold and will not let go. So from now on, when I get the mind to, there will be 'flash' chapters, flash-backs or flash-forwards. (mostly because I want to write out Kira's original departure from the house, but who knows what else I'll come up with? :D)

Enjoy, and lots of hugs from me!  
Li


	23. Bleeding Hearts

Arc 6: Flash

Flashback: Bleeding Hearts – Two Years, Six Months Ago

L wandered absently into the dining room, chewing lightly on his thumbnail, expertly avoiding his fangs. It was eleven-thirty at night, but there were still a few vampires sitting around, polishing off the remains of the tomato soup that had been made for dinner. L laughed to himself. There were always a few newcomers to the house who were baffled by their concept of meals, but L found that he was grateful for it. It was Watari's best attempt at giving them a semblance of a normal life. He could never thank the man enough for what he had done for himself and Beyond, twelve years ago, now. Watari had taken them in, given them an option for how to live other than as murderers.

His twin was sitting in the corner, laughing with Mello. Beyond and Mello got along extremely well, and L was glad for it. Beyond had always been the rougher of the twins, and had never been particularly good with people.

"B!" he called, and Beyond glanced up and rolled his eyes.

"What's going on?" he asked, scanning the room briefly as if to see some disturbance.

"Have you seen Kira?"

Kira. L's best friend, a young vampire whose blood had already matured. He, L, and Beyond were all eighteen. The only difference was that now Kira would be eighteen forever. He had an interesting view of vampirism, and a temper to match. But even so, L trusted him.

Beyond shook his head. "Nope. Not in a few hours, at least. I've been in here playing mancala with Mello since dinner." He pointed to the board, where a majority of the colored stones rested on his side, and grinned. "I kick ass at the 'around the world' version."

L sighed. "I really wanted to ask him something. Maybe he's out on the grounds."

"He said he was going out to Winchester." Both boys looked over as Aisha came in. Beyond smiled, waving to her, and she walked over lightly. "Did you need him for something?"

L frowned. "Winchester?" That probably wasn't a good thing. Kira had gotten into a fight with Watari just the other night, and was potentially volatile. He shouldn't be in the town in his state. "Tell Roger, or whoever asks, that I went to find him." He turned to leave, and Aisha put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Watch yourself, L."

He nodded, and ran to the front door, slipping out into the night. It was sweet of Aisha to be concerned, but Kira was his best friend. There was nothing to fear.

xXx

He ran the road to Winchester in no time, getting up on top of the buildings quickly. He should be able to hear Kira walking around, or if not, he could likely sense him easily enough. Sitting crouched on top of the grocery store, he allowed his senses to fan out, and quickly located his friend. He was over near one of the department stores.

L got up, maneuvering gracefully across the rooftops. As he got closer, he realized that there was a key smell coming from that direction as well. Blood.

He caught sight of Kira in a secluded corner of the parking lot, and hurried towards him. There was a young woman limp in his arms, and his lips were to her throat.

"Kira!" L cried, stopping six or seven feet away and staring in astonishment. "You attacked someone? You know how Watari feels about that! Why?"

"Because Watari's a fool, that's why." Kira growled, looking up at L, a small dribble of blood running down his chin. His eyes glowed red. "That old man needs to learn to leave me alone!"

"You're killing someone because Watari made you angry?" L asked. "Kira, that's not the answer."

"Oh, L…" Kira sighed. "This young lady doesn't seem to mind so much." He nuzzled her neck, licking lightly at the punctures he had created, and she moaned softly.

"You hypnotized her." L said flatly. "I doubt she even knows where she is. She probably thinks she's having some sort of erotic dream."

"So?" Kira asked. "L, we're _vampires_. We drink blood to survive. These humans… they're like food to us. We're the top of the food chain." He eyed the girl in his arms, and L stepped forward.

"You don't have to kill her." he murmured. "You're my best friend; don't make me fight you over this."

"Then don't." Kira retorted. "And you know that I'll have to kill her. She's seen what I look like, and she knows what I am. We can't just let her go free. That would put the house in danger."

L scowled. Kira knew how to push his buttons. The safety of the house took precedence. Kira smiled at him, and offered quietly, "I'm willing to share, you know. You don't know how bland that stuff from the blood bank is until you've had fresh, living blood again."

"_No_." L said firmly, shaking his head. He took another step forward. "Stop it, Kira."

Kira raised an eyebrow. "Hypocrite. Don't try to take the moral high-ground here, L. You'd do it to protect the house." He bent back over the girl again, continuing to drink.

"Kira!" L darted forward, grabbing the other by the hair, jerking him away from his victim. His black eyes were cold, and he said harshly, "Go back home. _Now_." He wasn't going to argue any more with the red-eyed vampire. The five of them held authority in the house together, certainly, but L and Beyond had authority greater than any other than Watari.

Kira fixed him with a venomous look, but complied. He left quick enough to seem as if he had never been there, leaving L with the weak form of the human girl to deal with. She opened hazy eyes, looking up at him curiously. "Who are you…?"

"Shh…" L murmured. She was dying. Kira had taken too much of her blood for her to survive now. He laid her down gently on the asphalt, walking over to the large trash bin near the side of the store. Finding what he was looking for, he broke off a large piece of glass from a broken bottle, walking back to the girl. He knelt beside her, reaching out to take her hand. "It'll be okay." he lied.

"I'm so sleepy…" she muttered. "Stupid place… to take a nap…"

"It's all right." L murmured. He reached up to brush her hair from her eyes. "Sleep now."

Her eyes drifted closed, and L knew that she was gone. He glanced at the glass in his hand, and ran the sharp edge across her throat, making sure to include the puncture marks in the wound he created. Another pointless murder on the outskirts of town. Vampires didn't leave fingerprints; the culprit would never be caught. L set the glass aside, looking at what he had done. No one would be able to tell that a vampire had attacked this girl. He stood up, whispering faintly, "I'm sorry," before hurrying back towards home.

xXx

Aisha found him later, curled up in his room, almost unresponsive.

"L?" she ventured, stepping into the room. "L, what's wrong?"

He looked up, his eyes empty. "He killed someone, Aisha. He _killed _someone!" he whispered harshly. "I had to watch her die…"

Aisha walked over and sat down beside him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Kira is different from you and Beyond. He's different from After and I as well. After and I never wanted for food, because of our father's job. Watari found you and Beyond shortly after you lost your parents, so you didn't have to hunt to survive for very long. Kira… it was all Kira knew, for the longest time. He's not like the rest of us here."

"He looked at me like he hated me." L said flatly. "I don't think he wants to know any of us here, anymore. Why does he stay?"

"I don't know, L." Aisha hugged him tight, wishing she could fix whatever had gone wrong in their little family. But no matter what happened, they could handle it. She knew.

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It's fun to write Kira. XD

Enjoy!  
Li


	24. White Angel

Flashback: White Angel – Two Years, Two Months Ago

It was filthy in the tiny orphanage on the outskirts of London. There was no heat, no air conditioning, not even proper running water. Seven-year-old Nate River, better known as Near, huddled wrapped in a blanket on the end of one of the beds, staring out the window at the raven-haired stranger standing out front. He couldn't have been older than eighteen, maybe twenty, by Near's reckoning. Hesitantly the child reached out and cracked the window open just slightly, trying to hear the stranger's voice.

"…conditions are _terrible_… how does anyone live like this?" the raven-haired young man was saying. Another, identical man walked up alongside, and Near figured they must be twins.

"I don't know." the twin replied. "Come on, L, Watari wanted us to find Zeph."

L. So the stranger's name was L. Near leaned closer to the window, coughing slightly, trying to get a better view of him. At that instant, the raven-haired man looked up, and endless black eyes filled Near's vision.

_His eyes are like mine._

xXx

"I want to see him." L insisted calmly, staring at the woman working in the front room of the little orphanage. "The pale one with the white hair. Black eyes. I saw him looking out of the upstairs window."

"Not that one." The woman turned back to the shelf she was dusting dismissively. "He's badly sick, that one. Pneumonia, and we don't have the money for medicine. We're keeping him away from the others so that they don't get sick too, until we can get him some antibiotics."

"I assure you, I'm not worried about becoming ill." L had told Beyond to go ahead and find their runaway newborn without him. Zeph might be new-turned and somewhat wild, but he wouldn't hurt either of them. Beyond would be fine. "Just let me see him. I'm not afraid of pneumonia." Vampires couldn't get sick, after all. L wanted to laugh, but refrained.

"All right, then. Top floor, last room down the hall." Conversation over, the woman moved on to the next shelf, leaving L to do as he pleased. The young vampire slipped easily up the stairs, finding his way to the top floor, last room. He wondered briefly what he was doing. Yes, the child was ill. They had granted rest to those painfully sick and dying before, but he hadn't known that the boy was sick until after demanding to see him. In truth, it was his eyes. The child had eyes the same endless black as L's, and it fascinated him. It was an interesting occurrence to have a vampire born with black eyes, like humans born with green, but to have a human child with black eyes was unheard-of.

xXx

Near looked up as he heard a single quiet knock on the door. The door opened before he could respond, and the raven-haired stranger, L, walked in. He didn't say anything, moving to sit in a chair next to the bed, his knees pulled to his chest. Near hugged the blanket tighter around himself and simply watched, unsure what the newcomer would do.

"Hi." L said after a moment. "My name is L. The woman downstairs told me where to find you."

"Mrs. Frost." Near said quietly. "I'm Near." He turned away, coughing roughly for a moment, and then looked back. "Sorry."

"No, she told me you were sick. Don't apologize." L said quickly. Near was surprised. This person seemed almost… nice. As Near looked closer, he saw that L's eyes were indeed black. It hadn't been a trick of the light, or anything else.

L saw where he was looking and smiled. "Yeah, we have the same eyes." he said. "So, Near, what do you like to do for fun?"

Near blinked, astonished. No one had ever come to the orphanage and actually talked to him for any length of time, much less asked him anything about himself. "Games… and puzzles. Toys…" he said faintly. He leaned down beside the bed, and picked up a container of Legos to demonstrate.

L took it from him, rifling through the pieces inside. "Well, let's build something, then."

Near gaped at him in unrivaled astonishment, but reached for the Legos regardless.

xXx

L wasn't sure what it was about this kid that drew him, but when Beyond turned up hours later, scowling and with Zeph safely in tow, there was a miniature city of Legos built all over Near's room.

"Honestly, you leave me alone all day to chase down this loser," pointing wildly at Zeph, "and I come back to find that you spent the day building _Legos_?! Seriously, L, what the hell?!" the red-eyed twin fumed, only getting more upset as both L and Near laughed, though for the latter the laugh became a cough.

"All right, all right, I'm coming." L said. He turned back to Near, saying only, "I'll come back to visit next time I'm in the area, okay?" Near nodded happily, and L waved before following his irritated brother out the door.

"So what's so special about that kid?" Beyond asked as they ran for home. Winchester was a decent run from London, but they could go faster as night fell.

"I don't know, Beyond. Something about him just… I feel like I want to protect him."

Beyond laughed. "Careful, L!" he teased. "Adoption in your future? Next thing we know you'll be married with five kids!"

"Be quiet, Beyond." L said flatly, turning his attention back to the road. He didn't know what made Near special, but he would do what he could to figure it out.

xXx

It was almost a month later when L finally managed to get back to London. He went straight to the little orphanage, and asked the woman in charge where he could find Near. She looked at him worriedly, but told him that Near was still in the same room. L caught the tone of sadness in her voice, and practically ran up the stairs.

Near was in bed, wrapped in many blankets. He shivered slightly as L watched, and coughed harshly. L came forward slowly. The pneumonia; they had never gotten the medicine. He laid his hand on Near's forehead, feeling how high a fever he had, and the boy's eyes snapped open.

"L…!" he said, seeming to light up. Another cough interrupted him, and L swallowed thickly as he realized that the child was coughing up blood.

"Near, you sound awful." L said quietly. He sat down on the end of the bed, and Near looked away.

"There's no money to get me medicine." he said. "But I'll be okay."

It was a lie, L knew, even if Near believed it. The boy was dying, his lungs slowly deteriorating. Soon, he wouldn't be able to breathe at all. "Near…" He was brave, L would give him that. They played chess for hours, and during that time L learned a lot about the little boy. His mother, a single parent after a one-night stand, had been completely disturbed by her child's white hair and black eyes, and had abandoned him at the orphanage when he wasn't even two. He had been here ever since, occasionally watching other children being adopted or leaving when they turned eighteen. But no one ever wanted him.

L made the decision then that he was going to save this boy. It wasn't fair, what life had thrown at him. He was going to make it better. Adoption would definitely take too long, but that wasn't what he had in mind.

xXx

Late that night, he snuck back to the orphanage, climbing effortlessly to the third-story window where Near's room was. He crept inside, gently shaking him awake.

"Near, wake up." he commanded quietly. "You have to come with me."

Near blinked up at him, surprised. "Where are we going?"

"Away from here." L picking him up, telling him to held on tight, and leaped from the window. He ran to an open area, just outside of the city, and there he set Near down.

"How did you DO that?" Near asked, his eyes huge and amazed. He swayed slightly, still woozy from fever, and L pushed him down to sit.

"If I tell you something, would you be afraid of me?" he asked quietly, kneeling to look Near in the eye. Near frowned in confusion, but shook his head. L lifted his top lip, showing the child the canine teeth that were longer than they should have been. "I'm a vampire, Near."

Near's eyes widened, and he stared at L in shock. "A real vampire?"

"A real vampire." L confirmed. Near looked as if he wanted to say something else, but was interrupted to cough harshly. L caught his hand, where blood speckled the skin, and saw Near flinch. "I'm not going to hurt you, Near." he said quietly. "I swear." He leaned over Near's hand, breathing deeply. There was something about the scent of his blood… L's eyes widened as he understood.

"You're half…" he murmured. Near looked confused, and L elaborated, "Half-vampire. Your human side is stronger, though… That explains your eyes." He closed his eyes, seeing the pieces coming together. "You said you didn't know your father? It's uncommon, but not unheard of. Half-breeds are rare."

"So… I'm a half-vampire?" Near asked.

"Yeah." L said. "If we could bring out your vampiric half, it would make you like us. Immortal. I don't mean to scare you, but you're dying, Near. I want to save you."

Near stared at him for a moment, then said quietly, "What do I have to do?"

xXx

When L walked into Wammy's House early the next morning, Aisha and Beyond were sitting in the front hall waiting for him.

"After was here for a while, but he went to get something to eat." Aisha explained. "L, where have you been? We were worried."

L smiled, shifting the child in his arms, careful not to wake him. Near had gone to sleep on the run home. Aisha stood up, walking over slowly to reach out and smooth Near's hair. "Who is he?"

"He's from an orphanage in London. He was a halfling, and he was dying of pneumonia. I brought out his vampiric half." L said quietly.

"That's that kid with the Legos." Beyond said. "Seriously, he was half-vampire?"

L nodded. "Staying here will be infinitely better for him than that orphanage. I'm going to go find him a room." He headed up the stairs with the young vampire, smiling down at him.

_I guess Near's my fledgling now. Who would have thought?_

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I was bored in history class. Not my best one, I think.

Well, enjoy regardless!  
Li


	25. Night of Farewells

Flashback: Night of Farewells – Two Years Ago

The halls of Wammy's House were never completely silent to the people who lived there. Enhanced hearing offered the ability to hear when other vampires were up and walking around, and any of them could easily hear Misa, the only human in the house.

L was in his room reading when he heard the yelling start. It was down on the first floor, so he couldn't make out the words, but raised voices were usually something to worry about. However, he didn't move. If it was a fight, Roger or Watari could handle it. In fact, they usually insisted on handling it. He settled back into his chair, going back to _Interview with the Vampire_. He found it incredibly silly and overdramatic.

As he read, the voices continued, and L thought he could pick out After's voice amongst the tones. Footsteps were coming towards his door, and when the door opened, L looked up in surprise.

"Mello?"

xXx

It had started with Aliscen, a female vampire with a quick temper who had come from America. She had gotten into a fight with Kira in the spacious entrance hall, although no one knew what over, and the fight had escalated, getting worse and worse. A few vampires gathered to see what was going on, and were more than ready to attempt to stop the fight until Kira brandished a lighter.

"I'll burn this place to the ground, and then what will you all do?" he demanded. "Fire will kill us, after all!" The crowd immediately began to scatter, not wanting to provoke the crazy red-eyed boy.

Roger elbowed his way through the people leaving the room, stopping to confront the renegade. Aliscen had backed away, one or two others were watching from the edges of the room, and Mello and Near stood with wide eyes near the door. Roger glared at Kira, demanding harshly, "What do you think you're doing?!"

Kira laughed. "I'm finally showing you what I think of the rules in this stupid place! We, vampires, are better than this fake life! I'm sick of behaving like I'm just a pathetic _human_!"

"This behavior will not be tolerated in this house!" Roger said furiously.

Who's going to stop me?" asked Kira, laughing. "_You_? Let me show you what I think of _you_." He moved before anyone in the room could react. Before anyone had even realized what had happened, Kira had bitten the man who had helped Watari run the house since before anyone could remember. He drank for a long moment, and then dropped Roger to the floor. The elderly man was dead. Kira had broken his neck before dropping him.

"What did you DO?!" After, a horrified expression on his face, stood in the doorway. "What the hell are you thinking, Kira?"

Kira only laughed at him, the blood on his lips making him look more sinister. After turned to the two children, saying urgently, "Mello, go get the others. I can't handle this alone." He turned back to Kira as Mello fled, and said sharply, "Are you happy with yourself? You murdered the man who helped raise us! He was like family!"

"No family of mine. I have no one. Even L doesn't want to be around me anymore." Kira said dismissively.

"That's because you're a murderer!" After shouted. "He doesn't want to be friends with a killer!"

"And he's a damned hypocrite, then!" Kira shouted back. "The proof is standing behind you! Someone had to die to make that child one of us!" He pointed wildly at Near, who flinched. Kira grinned triumphantly. "Even he knows it! Someone died to give him eternal life!"

"An elderly man on his deathbed." L said quietly as he walked into the room, followed by Aisha and Beyond. The raven-haired vampire stepped in front of Near, shielding him from Kira's accusations. "The man would have died that night, whether we had visited him or not."

Kira stared at him for a long moment, and then he started laughing. "What are you going to do, L? Fight me? Send me to my room? Your authority is hollow!"

L glanced at Aisha, who nodded. "We will fight if we have to, but we are asking you to leave, now, and never come back to Winchester. If you do…" He hesitated for a second, then finished, "We will kill you."

By now, almost everyone in the house had gathered to see what was going on. Kira looked around, and said loudly, "I think that we should let everyone decide who they want to listen to! Your stupid rules… or me!"

There was a general silence all around. No one moved. No one even breathed. Finally, Aliscen looked down at Roger's body, glanced at Kira, and walked to stand behind L and his friends.

This started a flood. As one, the vampires who lived in the house moved to stand with L, facing Kira across the empty space of the entrance hall. His face twisted into a scowl, and he turned away.

"Fine!" he snarled. "I'm leaving!"

L said nothing, watching impassively as his best childhood friend walked out the door into the night and was gone. When Kira was out of sight, he stepped forward and kneeled beside Roger's body. He had been the second person since their parents to care about him and Beyond, though it had taken longer to convince the older man that they weren't going to hurt him. Watari had trusted them immediately, but Roger had always compared them to tame tigers. You never knew when one of them would let instinct get the better of them. Eventually, they had earned his trust, and he was just as close to them as Watari was.

"I'm sorry, Roger." L murmured, though everyone could hear him perfectly. "We lost you to the only tiger that was never tame."

xXx

Roger was buried beneath a flowered tree near the back of the grounds, and the four who remained of the house's original residents sat silently in front of the tombstone. Mello, too, sat in-between Beyond and After, mourning the loss of one of two people he could have considered a parent.

"If he ever comes back, he's dead." Beyond said harshly, scrubbing at his eyes in a vain effort to hide that he was crying. After nodded.

"We still have our father, Aisha and I." the bronze-haired vampire said quietly. "But Roger was special to us as well. He was human, and once he trusted us… he didn't care what we were. There aren't many humans like that in this world."

"Misa left with Kira." Aisha said. "I think he turned her before they left, or there's no way she could have left so quickly."

"Good riddance. She was infatuated with Kira anyway." Beyond spat. "Useless girl."

L had been quiet, his arms wrapped around his knees, chin resting on his arms. He stared at Roger's headstone with a kind of silent intensity that none of his friends dared to break.

"Kira purposefully murdered him." he finally said, so quietly the others almost didn't hear.

"What do you mean, L?" Aisha asked gently.

"I mean that the blood loss he had sustained from Kira's bite wasn't enough to kill him. If he had just been bitten like that, we could have stopped the bleeding. And if that didn't work, we could have turned him, made him one of us. Kira broke his neck and killed him so that we couldn't save him." L explained bitterly. "Out of spite." He reached out and touched the white roses resting on the grave, then stood up, his gaze facing off into the distance.

"I will never forgive him."

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Aiiiii... Two weeks gave me time to get this done. :D Hope you enjoy!

Li


	26. Accepting Reality

Flash-Forward: Accepting Reality – 1 Year, 6 Months Since the End

L and After sat poised on the roof of Wammy's House, laughing as they watched Noir walk away disappointed again, thwarted once more by Light's infallible logic. It had certainly gotten easier to get rid of the little vampire hunter since Light moved in.

Noir was eighteen now, but still hadn't given up the notion that Wammy's House was full of vampires. He wasn't wrong, of course, but they couldn't risk him telling the entire town their secret, even if they weren't sure he would be believed.

"I think…" After said, biting back giggles, "that we should tell the little one the truth, and see how he takes it. After all, maybe he only has the courage to keep confronting us because he doesn't truly believe what he's saying."

L tilted his head to once side, considering the possibilities. "We could send everyone out for the night, and lure him in… Play with him, a bit, before the reveal. That would be fun…" The raven-haired vampire grinned wickedly. Noir had been accusing them for too long with no real proof. It was time to see what he would do when confronted with the real thing!

xXx

They gathered Light, Beyond, and Aisha, as well as Near, Mello, and Matt, and went to talk to Watari about their idea. After assuring the elderly man multiple times that they weren't going to hurt Noir, they just wanted to tease him and scare him, Watari reluctantly agreed. L, wielding his authority like a royal scepter, managed to arrange for everyone to be out of the house for one night.

They planned roles, scenarios, tricks and traps. They set up an emergency plan as well, considering that the goal was not to scar Noir for life. He trusted Light, to a degree. At least, he didn't believe that Light was a vampire yet, which would work to their advantage if they needed to get him out. He would go with Light.

"We might need a little bit of extra help." L said. "Aisha, can you find a few others who wouldn't be adverse to tricking Noir?"

"None of Felix and his group. They want to hurt him." Light said. "But any of the others…"

Aisha nodded agreeably. "It'll be like Halloween." she said. "A haunted house for him to explore."

"But this time, the haunting is real." L laughed. "Let's see how great the nerve of the vampire hunter is!"

xXx

Three days later, everything was prepared. L was returning from undoing the circuit-breaker for the house, shutting down all the lights. Near held his hand, walking beside him back up towards the kitchen.

"You're okay with this, Near? We can fake it, you know." he asked.

Near nodded. "You're like my father, sorta. It would be terrible if I didn't trust you enough to let you do this. It only has to be enough to bleed, right?"

"Yes." L replied. "You can talk to Matt in the kitchen while you wait. He'll be cuffed in there for a while, I'm sure. Remember, Noir doesn't know you, Matt, or Mello." There was a long row of fake handcuffs down one wall of the kitchen, now, and poor Matt would be cuffed there for most of the evening. For authenticity's sake.

"Light's leaving the letter on Noir's doorstep now, so we'll see if he bites. I doubt he'll be able to resist!"

xXx

When Noir received the letter, he was more than a little confused. "'We've set up a haunted house for our favorite little vampire hunter'? What a load of baloney…" Still, it would be a chance to get a good look at the inside of Wammy's. Maybe he could find something incriminating in there; something to prove once and for all that L and his friends were not the innocent humans that they played.

His mother had confiscated his weapons again, but he doubted he'd need them for pop-up ghosts and laughing wallhangers. Or, god forbid, fake spiderwebs. So it was with a cheerful mood that he walked up towards Wammy's House. There was another note on the front door saying, "If you can last through all the horrors inside, we'll give you a prize!" Noir chuckled, opening the door and wandering into the entrance hall.

The door slammed behind him, and when Noir went to try it, he found it locked from the outside. How did that even work? But it had to be a gimmick. The doors would open once he 'won'.

Looking around the bottom floor, he didn't find anyone. There were the typical, silly haunted house decorations, which he laughed at. He took the stairs to the second floor, and all the decorations stopped.

He wondered briefly if he was supposed to have stayed downstairs, but there were a few people on this floor, who waved at him absently on their way by. He found Aisha and Beyond in one of the playrooms, playing checkers.

"Hello, Noir." Aisha said politely. She reached for the board, and suddenly there were two of Beyond's pieces sitting next to her. Noir hadn't even seen her move.

"How are you, little hunter?" Beyond teased. "Find anything interesting yet?"

"Cheap-o decorations." Noir replied. "This isn't scary at all."

Beyond's eyes seemed to glow, until the only color left in them was red. "I suggest you find L; he set all of this up…"

Noir took a step back, nervously, and realized that the game of checkers was over. Aisha had won. He hadn't seen either of them moving the pieces!

"I… think I'll go find L…" he said uneasily, backing away before fleeing the room. Beyond and Aisha glanced at each other, then burst out laughing.

xXx

Noir went back downstairs, where the plastic decorations continued to mock him from their corners. The sun was going down, and he went to the light switch in the entrance hall.

The lights didn't work.

He took a deep breath, walking over and hesitantly slipping through the doors into the dining room. He saw L sitting at the far end of the table, illuminated by soft candlelight. L looked up and saw him, beckoning him closer.

"Hi, Noir. Having fun?" he asked.

"I'm not scared." Noir said, taking a seat on the other side of the table. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to have dinner. I was busy setting all of this up, so everyone else has eaten already. It should be ready in a few minutes." L said. "You can wait here with me for a while, if you just want to rest."

"I don't understand why you're doing all of this. It's so lame." Noir said, watching wax slide down one of the candles. "Your lights are broken, by the way."

"All part of the atmosphere." L said. "The real fun has yet to even start. We're hoping that you'll have had a real scare by the end of tonight."

"Nothing vampire-like, yet. Just grinning plastic skeletons. Are you doing that on purpose?"

L smiled. "Perhaps we're just saving the best for last. Oh, dinner!"

The door in the corner opened, and a figure in black swept out carrying a large silver platter. Noir caught a glimpse of white, and figured that it was some sort of giant cake. Even he knew of L's abnormal diet. But he was shocked when the person set the plate down and was gone again. A child was lying on the platter, seemingly asleep. He was wearing white pajamas and had pure white hair. L smiled hungrily.

Noir glanced back and forth between the little boy and L's hungry expression. "L…?"

"This is Near." L said, never looking up at the vampire hunter. "He's an orphan. We picked him up a few days ago. No one will miss him." He reached out, lifting Near's wrist, bringing it close to his face and inhaling deeply. "Delicious…" He bit back a laugh, knowing that it would ruin the moment. He couldn't look up, but he could imagine the look on Noir's face. Near was good at pretending to be unconscious.

"L… Please tell me you're kidding… This is a game, like the fake spiderwebs…" Noir whispered, drawing back from the table.

L finally looked up, and grinned broadly, flashing fangs. "Why would I kid about something as serious as dinner?"

Noir scrambled backwards, away from the table and L, to press against the wall. He was still expecting L to stop, to laugh and say it was all a joke and wasn't Noir scared? But L didn't, and Noir watched in horror as L lifted Near from the platter.

"L, don't!" Noir begged. He cursed his mother for taking his weapons away at such an inopportune time. Was L really going to…?

Cradling the child in his arms, L leaned down, breathing Near's scent for a moment before letting his fangs pierce pale skin. Noir whimpered, wishing he could sink into the wall, and L looked up.

"What's wrong, Noir? You wanted the answers…" There was blood on his lips, and he licked them absently.

Noir bolted, running through the nearest door, just to get away from L. He found himself in the kitchen, and stared in horror at the row of handcuffs along the wall. And in the last set of cuffs… was another child.

"Hey!" the boy yelled at him. "Help me! The key is on the counter!"

Noir ran over, finding the key quickly and undoing the cuffs. The boy slumped, rubbing his wrists, and said faintly, "I'm Matt. They caught me a few days ago. Are you…?"

"I'm human." Noir said urgently, sounding shaken. "We have to get out of here, but the front doors are locked."

"There's a window on the second floor that leads out over the back porch. We can get down from there." Matt said. "My friend, Mello, got away before they chained me up. I don't know if he's still in the house."

"We'll look on the way." Noir said. As they ran for the back stairs, he murmured to himself, "I always thought that they were vampires, but I never realized what that meant!"

As they ran down a second-floor hallway, dark due to the broken lights, they found a blond boy looking around frantically. Matt froze, then cried excitedly, "Mello!"

The boy turned, and Matt ran to him, hugging him tightly. "Mello!"

"I heard the commotion downstairs. I've been hiding for days. Are you okay?" Mello asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. This guy helped me."

Mello looked up at Noir over Matt's shoulder. He smiled, then, his eyes glowing bright blue and fangs peeking over his lower lip.

"Matt…!" But Mello had started running, faster than was possible for any human, and had taken Matt with him.

Leaving Noir alone again.

He turned blindly and stumbled into a random room. _Matt… Near… _A smooth voice broke the silence from behind him, cutting through the darkness.

"There you are, Noir." After said silkily. "L sent me to look for you." Beyond and Aisha slipped soundlessly into the room behind him, blocking the doorway. Noir sank into a corner, uncertain what he was even doing anymore. He was scared. This… was something he couldn't fight off.

L came in, smiling when he saw him. "So the little vampire hunter falls…" he said. "Interesting…" He began to walk closer, and Noir shut his eyes.

There were cool hands, stroking his neck where his pulse ran, running through his hair, tilting his head back. His mind was a blank except for the overwhelming terror running through him. He faintly heard L's voice, whispering next to his ear, "Well, you wanted to know…"

_Nightmare, nightmare, NIGHTMARE!_ he begged mentally, but he somehow knew that everything was all too real. There were lips against the vein in his throat, and he whimpered, bracing himself for pain.

"Enough." Everyone around him withdrew, and Noir had just enough coherence to look up and think, _Light?_, before everything went black and he fainted.

xXx

Light sighed, lifting the unconscious young man into his arms. "Remind me to thank all of you for not doing this to me."

"Did we take it too far?" Aisha asked worriedly.

"He'll be okay." L said. "Now, we have two options. We can take him home, demolish all the evidence, and let him believe it was a dream… Or we can let him wake up and explain."

"I'd rather let him think it was a dream." Beyond said. "Who knows what he'd do if we tell him the truth?"

"We swear him to secrecy." L said. "Likely he's scared enough of us now that he would do whatever we said. We are _vampires_, after all, and I'm sure that now he thinks we'll kill him. He thinks I killed Near." He glanced back at the doorway, where Mello, Matt, and Near were watching interestedly. "Let's get the lights and go up to the roof. We'll tell him everything."

xXx

Noir awoke to cool night air and the knowledge that his head was resting in someone's lap. He sat up with a start, turning to stare with wide eyes at Aisha. She frowned, worried, and he looked around frantically, seeing the others sitting in a semi-circle around him, trapping him. They were on the roof of Wammy's, and there was nowhere to run.

"Noir." L said quietly. "We're sorry. This was meant to be a joke, mostly for our sake. We apologize if we scared you too badly."

"I think we took it too far." Light said.

Noir stared at them, then blinked in amazement at the completely unharmed Near sitting in L's lap. He glanced around again, seeing Matt and Mello sitting higher up on the roof, and then looked back at L. "This was all a joke? It wasn't real?"

"I never said that…" L murmured. "It was a joke at your expense, yes… But it was very real." He smiled faintly, reaching up to hold his lip out of the way and show the young vampire hunter his fangs. Slowly, each of the others in the circle did the same. "You were right, Noir. All of us are vampires. All of us except for Matt."

Noir sat perfectly still for a long moment, then scrambled past Aisha so that he was no longer sitting in the middle of the circle. "No way. No way…"

"You wanted to believe it before." After said.

"That was before I was trapped on a roof with seven vampires!" Noir wailed. Beyond sighed, getting up and walking up to him. He effortlessly pinned the younger boy to the shingles, and frowned.

"Listen, kid. We're not going to hurt you." he said. "But you can't tell a soul about us, do you understand?"

"You're not trapped, Noir." L said. "We'll gladly take you back inside."

Noir nodded quickly at Beyond, showing that he understood, and then looked at L. "How… How did this…?"

L smiled. "Even vampires need a place to stay, sometimes. Let him up, Beyond."

Beyond grumbled, but released the younger boy. Noir got back to his feet, then said very quietly, "Explain."

They told him everything. The House, Light coming to stay, the truth about everything that happened with Kira… Noir listened to all of it, and when they were finished explaining Light asked, "So… Are you okay?"

Noir nodded shakily. "I… think so."

"You're like Light and Misa." Aisha said. "You have an open mind, to accept all of this. You understand why others cannot know about the house."

He nodded again. "I think… I need to go home."

Light smiled deviously, the expression usually found on L looking out of place on him. "Let L and I take you home. You'll get there much faster."

Noir blinked, but nodded hesitantly. L smiled as well, glancing at Light, and each of them reached out and grabbed one of Noir's arms.

"Wait, what are you…?!" But then the two vampires had jumped off the roof, dragging the hapless teenager between them.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Aisha glanced at Beyond. "Do you think he'll be okay?"

Beyond nodded, grinning. "Of course. L and Light will take good care of him!"

Aisha rolled her eyes. "That's… kinda what I'm worried about." Although, it did feel good to have told Noir the truth, after close to five years of him snooping around. She remembered the little thirteen-year-old who had gotten a glimpse of L and Beyond fighting in a tree one day, and based on what he'd seen remained convinced that they were vampires ever since. Now it seemed like their little family was complete. Aisha smiled.

"You're right. He'll be fine."

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I decided that all of my flashbacks were depressing. So I wanted to write something funny, like scaring the bejeezus out of poor Noir. :D Yeah...

Li


	27. Red

Flash-Forward: Red – Three Years, Four Months Since the End

Mello's blood finally matured, a few weeks after he turned sixteen. He was thrilled by the concept; not only did he get to stay a teenager forever, but he was physically seven years older than Near! He'd be able to get a driver's license if he really wanted, he'd be able to go places and do things in human society without needing a grown-up everywhere… Life really couldn't get any better.

Back after the incident with Kira, just after Light was turned, L and the others had made a promise to Matt that when Mello's blood matured, they would turn him as well, so that the two could remain the same age. They weren't sure if he would actually take them up on the offer, but it was always there, if he wanted it.

"Mel?"

"What is it?" Mello flipped down to hang by his knees from the tree branch he had been sitting on. The two of them were at least forty feet up, sitting in the branches of an enormous oak. Face-to-face with his best friend, even upside-down, he could read the expression on Matt's face. "What are you thinking about?"

"Vampires…" Matt replied honestly.

"What about us?"

"Exactly. _Us._ I'm still human, Mel."

Mello frowned, completely confused. "Yeah… So? That's never meant anything here, you know that, right?" He dropped down to sit on the same branch as Matt, staring at the redhead. "What are you getting at?"

Matt hesitated. "…Beyond promised me, after L turned Light, that they would turn me when your blood matured, so we could stay the same age." He looked away, out over the sprawling grounds of Wammy's house. "Do you think that it's a good idea?"

"You're scared."

"NO!" Matt yelped, defensively. Mello blinked, and Matt amended, "Well, maybe… But that's not the point. Is… is it weird, being immortal?"

Mello's eyes lit with understanding. "Oh… Well… Not really. After all, my whole family is immortal too. I don't have to worry about any of them getting older and leaving me behind."

Matt nodded. "I guess you're right. You guys are my family, too. …Thanks, Mel."

"Sure." Mello offered his hand. "Let's go back to the house, okay?"

xXx

L and Beyond were playing War when Matt went into the playroom. The cards flashed on the table, too fast for the human eye to read. They stopped for a moment, and Beyond asked quietly, already knowing the answer, "What is it, Matt?"

"I… I want to be a vampire." Matt said, his voice barely a whisper. Beyond glanced at L, then got up to wrap an arm around Matt's shoulders.

"Come on, Matt. Come talk to me for a minute." He walked the redhead from the room, telling L briefly to wait, they would finish the card game in a little while. L nodded, waving. When Beyond was out of sight, he grabbed his twin's stack of cards, setting up all of his cards so that L would end with all of the aces. Sure-fire victory, even if it was cheating. L laughed.

Beyond took Matt up to the teen's room, making Matt sit before sitting next to him. "You want to be turned?" he asked.

"Y-yeah…" Matt said, not looking at him.

"This is a decision you can't go back from." Beyond said. "You look so nervous… I wonder if you're actually prepared." Matt seemed to crumple, and Beyond laid a hand on his shoulder, feeling him tremble. "It's okay, Matt. It doesn't have to be now. You'll be sixteen for a whole year."

"It's just… Kira…" Matt muttered. Beyond knew what he was talking about. L and Light had explained everything. Kira had kidnapped Matt, held him at knife-point, threatened to kill him to lure L out into the open, and constantly tormented him with the knowledge that, to Kira, he was little more than a meal, instead of a person. The red-eyed twin could understand Matt's apprehension.

"You know that none of us would _ever_ hurt you, Matt." Beyond said forcefully. Matt nodded, taking a deep breath.

"I want you to change me." he said. Beyond didn't say anything in response, pulling Matt into a hug. Matt smiled, leaning his head back on Beyond's shoulder and baring his throat. He trusted them. He _did_.

Beyond bit him as carefully as he could. When everything was done, he tucked Matt into bed and left him sleeping there. As he shut the door, he turned around to see Light standing in the hallway. The auburn-haired vampire smiled at him, saying lightly, "It doesn't seem like it at first, but you're really a big softy, aren't you?"

Beyond growled at him, and turned to walk away. Light laughed, pushing off from the wall he'd been leaning on and saying, "No, I'm kidding! Matt's lucky to have you looking out for him."

"Mello is my fledgling in all but blood, and Matt is his best friend. It was my responsibility, and I did promise him." Beyond said. "I wasn't going to betray that. He's part of the family too, after all. Just like you."

"You're never going to give up the fact that I used to be human." Light sighed, rolling his eyes.

"No, I'm never going to give up the memory of you running screaming down the stairs like a lunatic!" Beyond giggled, turning around to face Light. "Mello and I still can't figure out how you had the breath to scream for that long!"

Light groaned. "No one's ever going to let me live that down!"

"Nope!" Beyond turned back to the hallway. "Mello's going to take Matt out later to finish the change. He's like Matt's brother, so it's only right." Light nodded, following him downstairs to watch the conclusion of the card game.

xXx

It was about three in the morning, and Light was in his room, reading, when Mello and Matt bounded through the open window. Light sighed, setting the book down, and asked patiently, "Don't you know how to knock, or use the door?"

Matt turned to him, pointing accusingly. "You could have warned me about the whole 'I-feel-like-I'm-on-fire' thing!"

Light smiled. "I could have, but I didn't." Matt growled at him, and he said placidly, "Beyond and Aisha are in the playroom on the second floor. Go bug Beyond. He could have warned you too."

Matt nodded, dashing out the door in a burst of his new speed. Mello laughed, going after him, and Light sighed again, returning to his book.

When Matt entered the playroom, he found Beyond and Aisha sitting with their one-and-a-half year old son, Ryuzaki. Aisha didn't usually let him near Matt, since he was born a vampire and wasn't old enough to know not to bite. When Matt walked in, the red-gold-eyed boy squirmed off his mother's lap and dashed across the room, shrieking, "Matty Matty Matty Matty Matty!"

Matt picked him up, grinning. "Hey, Ryu. What's up?"

"Matty!" Ryuzaki chimed. He had only started learning to talk a month or two ago, and at most could manage simple sentences, and garbled versions of people's names. "Pway?"

"I'll play with you, Ryu." He glanced at Aisha, who nodded. He smiled, turning to leave the playroom, saying, "I'll teach you to play Mario Kart..."

"Can an eighteen-month-old _learn_ Mario Kart?" Beyond whispered sideways to Aisha.

"I don't know." she whispered back. "You've created a monster."

"Matt will be fine. But now that he's a vampire, we'll never be able to beat him at video games ever again." Beyond grinned. "The only reason we could sometimes beat him before was his human reflexes. Now we're doomed."

"If he turns my child into a gamer, I'll hurt you." Aisha muttered. She walked away to supervise, and Beyond grinned. Now they really were a complete family. Matt was happy, and everything was perfect.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

For Matt the Gamer, who reminded me to actually get off my ass and finish this chapter. :D

I don't like this one as much, for some reason... Oh, well. Next will be one we've been waiting for: Light telling his parents he's a vampire! Oh noes! XD

Enjoy!  
Li


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